


Burning Houses

by domini_moonbeam



Category: The Covenant (2006)
Genre: Attempted Sexual Assault, Hate Crimes, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, Polyamory, Romance, Sex, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-11
Updated: 2019-04-11
Packaged: 2020-01-11 17:02:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 37,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18428336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/domini_moonbeam/pseuds/domini_moonbeam
Summary: "They had all ascended successfully but the truth of their lives had finally hit home, no one else could be trusted and loved ones outside the covenant were a liability."Stalkers, curses, snipers, and more.Multiple pairings. M/M





	1. Chapter 1

Highschool was over and after Chase, they had no desire to separate again. They had all ascended successfully but the truth of their lives had finally hit home, no one else could be trusted, and loved ones outside the covenant were a liability. Sure, they dated, but they never let it get serious again.

They bought a house big enough for all of them to have some privacy just outside the university. It seemed, at least to Tyler, that when Reid and Caleb got along the house felt enormous, and when they didn’t—it was like there wasn’t enough room to breathe. After ascension Reid had actually cooled down on his using some, enough for it not to be a constant worry to the others, but Caleb was never satisfied. It seemed everyone but them knew that it was his way of caring.

“Come on,” the blond whined from his place on the couch. He was sprawled over the pillows, one leg over the arm and his head tossed back so that he could look up the line of his nose at his brother. “Why won’t you let me do it?”

Tyler sighed and tried not to break his pencil on his notes. He was sitting at the kitchen table, unfortunately facing the blond. “Because.” It was a stupid answer, but the one he had been giving for more than a year now.

Reid spasmed in a mock fit and grumbled, “Come on! I was your first kiss, your first hand job, your first blow job.” He smiled widely at the memory of Tyler’s blushing cheeks in his lap. He sighed as he returned to the present. “You’re a virgin in college! It’s fuckin’ embarrassing!”

The youngest tried not to flush and suppressed the urge to hush the other. It wasn’t like the other two didn’t know, but it wasn’t something they brought up. Probably because they were older, maybe because they didn’t want to embarrass him. Though, Tyler often wished Pogue would. “I’m not embarrassed,” he lied. “And you weren’t my first kiss.”

Reid groaned and rolled off of the couch. “Some girl when you were twelve doesn’t count.” He came around to the table and leaned over it, palms to the wood near Tyler’s. The youngest sighed and looked up, his friend’s face only inches from his own with a broad smile and a glint in his eyes. “Tell me I wasn’t the best,” the blond taunted, tongue peeking out to wet his lips and Tyler sucked a breath, for a moment wondering if it had been his own lips that had been licked.

“Reid…” the youngest sighed and got up.

The blond lit with excitement. “Is that a yes? We can go up to my room right now.”

Tyler laughed and picked up his notebook. Reid’s room had become a veritable sex den—one that Tyler, the other guys, and probably just about half the town, had enjoyed at one point or another. “I’m going to study in my room—alone.”

Reid groaned and picked up his jacket. “Fine. Then I’m going out to get someone else to play with.” He smirked as he watched his best friend head for the stairs. “And it’s going to be a frail little brunet. I don’t care if it’s a girl or a boy, they’re taking it in the ass and I’m calling them ‘Baby boy’!”

Tyler bit back a laugh and flipped off the blond before marching upstairs. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Reid to be good to him, in fact, he often toyed with the idea. But, as lame as it sounded, Reid just wasn’t the one he’d wanted his first time to be with. Maybe that was why he’d never really told his best friend the real reason he hadn’t gone all the way. It wasn’t because the blond would laugh at him—which he would—it was just too pathetic to say aloud. He was saving it.

Sounds down the side hall suddenly caught his attention, pulling his thoughts from his self-pity. Something heavy slammed against a wall, rattling the pictures outside Caleb’s bedroom door. Before Tyler could think otherwise, he was walking down the hall. The door was open just a little and he had reached out to push it into a swing but his fingers never quite reached the wood before his entire body froze. There were more sounds, guttural moaning sounds. He hadn’t yet made the decision to move when he saw a mirror on the bedroom wall, directly in view from the opening of the door.

His heart clenched in his chest.

Caleb slammed Pogue up against the wall. Both of them were stripped down to jeans, hands grabbing at skin with greedy passion. The sandy blond curled his lips to bare his teeth, practically growling as he grabbed the dark haired eldest by the throat, turning them as fast as he could without Using and exchanging their positions. Caleb moaned as Pogue ground their hips together, one of his hands coming up to fist in the back of that long hair. With a groan he jerked Pogue’s head back, his mouth delving into the column of the blond’s throat.

Tyler found himself staring at their reflection, watching their violent play as they forced each other out of jeans. He felt his breath hitch and his cheeks flush. He’d seen them naked before, of course, had even fooled around with them on occasion, but nothing this heavy—nothing this aggressive.

Eventually Caleb had the upper hand again, Pogue’s chest pressed to the wall and his arm twisted behind his back. The older boy grinned as he kissed the captured blond’s spine, his exposed cock rubbing between asscheeks.

Tyler shivered in the doorway, unsure what he was seeing. He had never seen Caleb act like this. In the few, and by few he meant two, times that they had made out and the one time Tyler had blown him, he hadn’t done anything so…violent. If Pogue weren’t moaning and rubbing back, he might have tried to intervene… might have. Honestly he felt a chill of fear when he watched Caleb now, though it would have been a lie to say his pants weren’t feeling particularly tight.

But the worst of it was the way his heart sank into his stomach when he watched Pogue. Was this what he wanted? No wonder he’d never been overly interested in Tyler before. They often snuggled and sometimes kissed. Pogue would make dirty jokes that bordered on sweet with winks that hinted at honesty, but he never made any moves. Was this why? Even Tyler couldn’t imagine himself playing in that scene, whether it were top or bottom.

“Caleb,” Pogue groaned as the other boy pushed inside him, his lips parted wide and his voice deep and husky.

It jarred Tyler from his stare like a blade to the chest. He stumbled backward before running down the hall to his own room. He threw the lock into place as though someone might chase him and though he hated himself for it, he cried.

 

* * *

 

Pogue grinned as he stretched, pulling his pants up and mumbling something snarky to his friend, the raven haired one sprawled out on a bed of rumpled covers and abused pillows. He bent to grab his shirt where it had landed, only a few feet from the door. A frown tugged at the corner of his lips as he stood, smirking. “You forgot to close the damn door again,” Pogue complained halfheartedly as he tugged his shirt on.

Caleb shrugged, lazy and sated the way he often way after a good go on top. “Sorry.”

Pogue had reached out to close to door but found himself holding onto the handle and staring at something on the floor just outside. He opened it wide and bent down, picking up the all too familiar notebook.

“What’s wrong?” the eldest asked with some concern as he sat up, sensing his friend’s sudden discomfort. His throat felt dry when he saw Tyler’s notebook in Pogue’s hands. He really should have remembered to close the door. “Should we talk to him?” Caleb asked in his responsible voice, though it was obvious he didn’t even like the idea himself.

After a moment, Pogue shook his head. “Nah. He’ll be fine.” He walked out of the room and closed the door softly. As he walked toward his own room he wondered why his chest hurt, why he felt this press of dread. He wasn’t ashamed of what he did with Caleb, or anyone else for that matter. Yet, somehow, Tyler was the last person he wanted seeing it.

 

* * *

 

It was almost three in the morning when someone knocked at Tyler’s door. He tensed, his mind freezing as he tried to think of something to say.

“Open up, Baby Boy. I’m tired,” Reid called through the panel of wood.

With a sigh the youngest got up and unlocked the door. He didn’t open it, but rather returned to his desk where he had been pretending to read textbooks for the past four hours. Reid walked in and kicked the door shut behind himself. He stretched and yawned on his way to the desk. “You been hiding out in here all night?”

“Reid—” Tyler started but when he looked up his words fell away. Reid was holding his notebook. And when he looked at his bestfriend he realized that he wasn’t nearly as drunk as he should be at this hour, in fact, he had a soberness to his expression that looked utterly foreign.

“Pogue asked me to give this back to you.” He held it out.

Tyler flushed as he realized that the other boy knew he had seen them. Reluctantly he took it from Reid, wondering if Pogue had told him everything.

“You okay?” the blond asked as he sat on his bed and laid back.

Tyler sighed. That was a ‘yes, Pogue told him everything’. “I’m fine.”

“Caleb just likes to play rough sometimes. It doesn’t mean anything.”

Tyler felt the blood rush from his face at the memory and the fact that his friend thought THAT was what had him hiding in his room- not that he would admit to hiding. “That’s not—wait.” Tyler turned in his chair to look at his friend. “You’ve been with him like that?”

Reid smiled in that reminiscent way he often did. “Only a couple times. Usually we get too competitive over who’s going to top when we play like that. I guess with Pogue it’s always a surprise for him.”

Tyler sighed a little in relief. “So, it’s not always like that?”

“Sex with Caleb or sex in general?” Reid smiled at the ceiling, as though it were charmed by his wit.

Tyler rubbed a hand over his face, wondering if he should correct this assumption that he was interested in Caleb’s preferences. But then he’d have to admit that what had him riled was Pogue’s part. “Both,” he gave, needed to say something.

Reid started to laugh and then something serious intruded on his otherwise light thoughts. He propped himself up on his elbows and looked at his friend carefully. “It’s not supposed to be like that.” He said and strangely enough, Tyler felt like he meant it- or rather, that he really wanted Tyler to believe it. “Not for you,” he amended with the same conviction. “And Caleb would never treat you like that anyway, not unless you wanted to and you don’t.” His eyes narrowed suspiciously. “You don’t, do you?” There was a hint of worry in his curiosity, leading Tyler to believe that Reid didn’t like the idea at all.

“No,” Tyler assured.

Reid stretched on the bed. “I don’t know what your plan is, Baby Boy, but you’re running out of options,” he murmured before a yawn. “You’re not interested in Caleb, you won’t give it up to me, and Po doesn’t do virgins.”

Tyler felt his heart lurch. “What?”

Reid had closed his eyes and looked as though he were seconds from sleep. “Hmm?”

Tyler got up and climbed onto the bed, straddling the other boy in order to shake him awake again. A grin spread Reid’s features and Tyler knew he’d fallen into a trap. Arms wrapped around him, hips lifting beneath his to roll them until he was pressed beneath the blond. “Gotcha, Baby Boy.”

Sucking a breath, Tyler tried not to squirm. Reid’s hips pressed against his own, his knees by gravity alone were spreading Tyler’s legs to lie on either side of him. His heart was still hammering in his chest. “So, that thing you said about Po... that was a trick?” the youngest murmured, Reid’s lips dangerously close to his own. If things kept moving at this rate he wouldn’t have much time for thought left.

The blond laughed and brushed his mouth over the other boys before dragging it and his tongue up his jaw and then down his neck. “Hardly,” he said as his hands worked Tyler’s shirt up his ribs, exposing some of that creamy pale skin. “Pogue’s never been into virgins. Too much pressure, too much responsibility- something like that. But not me.” He smiled against Tyler’s neck. “I’d make it good for you, you know.”

Tyler laid there beneath his best friend, his body responding to the other’s attention and wiggling. But his mind was racing in other directions. Pogue didn’t do virgins. That was too cruel. The boy he’d wanted to be his first for as long as he’d been thinking about those things, the one he’d been shutting down his other lovers for, wouldn’t sleep with a virgin. He shivered under Reid. It felt like his heart had cracked under that cruelty of fate. “Okay.” His voice was shaky but he could tell that his friend heard him, because he had stopped kissing his neck, had stopped stroking his sides.

Reid turned his head to look at the boy’s cheek. “You're teasing me?” he asked quietly, trying to smirk.

Tyler swallowed hard and stared at the ceiling. “N-no.” His breath shivered past his lips when he turned his head to look back at Reid, their lips touching. “Fuck me,” he whispered.

The blond blinked. He felt his cock harden between them at hearing those words from that mouth, but when he looked into his friend’s eyes he saw only determined sadness and fear. With a shiver he sat up and slid off of the bed. He stood there and stared down at Tyler, his body sprawled on the mattress and offered up, but it wasn’t the way he’d hoped. With a shaky breath he racked fingers through his hair and turned away.

“What?” Tyler asked, sounding completely lost.

With a sigh, Reid walked to the door. “Don’t take this the wrong way, Baby Boy. I’ll be more than happy to get in your pants just as soon as you actually want me there.” He paused with his hand on the handle, turning back to give him a reassuring smile. He wanted to stay, to talk about whatever had made his friend change his mind. He wanted to wash away that lost sadness. But right now it felt like if he stayed they’d either argue or his resolve would fold and they’d end up doing something they’d both regret the next morning. “I don’t need to be your first, Ty, but I’ll need you to want it.” He walked out and closed the door quietly.

In the hall he felt like slamming his head against the wall. He’d nagged and teased Tyler for years about sleeping with him. For years. And when it was finally offered he walked away. No. Reid shook the thought as he walked down the hall. It wasn’t really offered. Not the way it should have been, not the way he wanted their Baby Boy to.


	2. Toast

Tyler had barely slept. He was still rubbing the back of his neck and trying to clear his vision when he ambled down the stairs—aimed for the kitchen and the hope of coffee.

All residual sleep was swept from his system when he saw another standing in the kitchen. Maybe Reid had been right in trying to reassure him Caleb wasn’t someone to be afraid of after all. He hadn’t realized himself just how startled he had been. He’d never seen Caleb like that before and the images of the dark haired boy growling and pinning someone as strong as Pogue simply would not fade from his memory. He found himself taking a step back, in the hopes of retreating before being noticed.

“Ty.”

Fail.

Caleb hadn’t looked up from the bowl of eggs he was currently scrambling. “Would you get the bread for me?”

Tyler felt like a rabbit that had stumbled upon a wolf. His stomach felt heavy as he walked into the kitchen, trying to keep an eye on his eldest brother while opening the pantry. Unfortunately it seemed that the more he watched the other, the more he thought about the day before and what he had seen. His face felt warm and his throat dry. His hands were shaking when he pulled the loaf from the shelf and turned around. His breath sucked in in surprise and the package of bread fell onto the floor with a soft thud. Caleb was suddenly standing in front of him, those dark brown eyes boring down on his with all of their usual intensity.

Tyler swallowed and was about to reach down to retrieve the bread when one of Caleb’s hands caught his wrist, holding him in place. It was a sudden grip but nothing other than gentle. It was the Caleb he had always known. Firm but kind.

The older boy looked down at the youngest’s hand. Caleb sighed heavily as it trembled before his eyes. He suddenly wished that Pogue had been the one on top yesterday- at least then it would have been the blond and not himself that Tyler was now afraid of. “Baby Boy,” Caleb whispered, taking a step forward and frowning when the boy stepped back, backing himself into he counters. Caleb had followed, pinning him there with the press of his hips, drawing a soft gasp from Tyler though his eyes fluttered with panic that only made him feel worse. They were brother’s, all of them, and lovers. He never wanted any of them to be afraid of him.

“What you saw yesterday—”

“I didn’t see anything,” Tyler lied quickly.

Caleb smirked and raised an eyebrow. He could feel the boy’s pulse through his wrist, could hear it hammering wildly. “Ty. I want to talk about it.”

Tyler flushed as he thought about the mirror, their sounds, the way Caleb had pressed Pogue to the wall and take his victorious tongue to the other man’s spine. He squeezed his eyes shut but it only made the memory more vivid.

Caleb sighed and was about to back up until he felt the other boy’s sex grow hard between their meshed hips. His eyes sharpened as he studied Tyler’s face, trying desperately to read the truth there. “Did it turn you on?” he asked quietly, his voice a husky murmur.

“No!” Tyler flustered, his eyes opening and his hips squirming against Caleb’s, haplessly rubbing the evidence of his lie against the other. “I mean… I don’t know.”

Caleb tried not to smile in relief, his hand releasing the wrist it had captured in order to caress Tyler’s side. He dipped his head and brushed their lips together. When the youngest didn’t pull away he deepened the kiss. Happiness washed through him when Tyler opened his mouth and moaned, letting Caleb’s tongue slide in. He’d always wanted to spend more time with Tyler as a lover- almost as much as he knew Pogue did—but they had boy been reluctant to push, afraid of taking too much from the youngest too soon.

When Tyler’s hips bucked against his, Caleb smiled and broke their kiss. Before the shorter boy could whine a question or complaint, the eldest had knelt down in front of him. His fingers hooked into the top of Tyler’s pajama pants, tugging them down until his erection stood free.

Tyler gasped, suddenly looking around the open kitchen and living room anxiously. “Caleb…maybe…” He groaned and felt his vision double when that hot mouth wrapped around his dick. A hand gripped his hip, holding him up and against the counter as that head moved back and forth, sucking loudly.

Tyler pressed a hand over his own mouth, fingers digging into his face as he struggled not to cry out. He would never have imagined Caleb blowing anyone let alone him. Normally Tyler was the one on his knees- though Reid wasn’t opposed to giving back.

He tried to move his hips, to rock into that wet heat, but Caleb’s hand kept him pinned.

“Please… Please…” Tyler gasped through his fingers before moving his hand to slid down his neck, dragging nails and saliva on its path. “I’m gonna…” he tried to warn between mewls. Caleb sucked harder and finally Tyler burst, his body bowing to arch over the counter, his head hitting the top cupboards with a stiff thud.

Caleb swallowed and licked the boy clean, realizing that if he let go of his hips now he would probably come toppling down on him. Standing, he pulled Tyler’s pants up and then lifted the boy to set him down on top of the counter. His legs spread to be on either side of Caleb’s waist. He was panting and gasping softly, leaning naturally against the strong chest in front of him, his fingers curling and uncurling in his shirt like a cat.

Smiling, Caleb slid his hands down Tyler’s back until they rested against counter and ass. He pulled him forward until their hips met again, Tyler’s legs spread further. “Want to go upstairs?” the eldest suggested with a playful smirk that bordered on dangerous.

Tyler tensed. His mind screamed to say yes and his body was in full agreement, but his heart throbbed- pulling the corners of his lips down. “I’m sorry,” he whispered defeatedly.

Caleb drew back enough to look at the youngest, hand reaching up to stroke the side of his neck. “You’re still afraid? It wouldn’t be like you saw… I wouldn’t—”

“No.” Tyler shook his head quickly and smiled a little. “It’s not that. It’s just..”

When his words fell off into silence, a burdened sigh, and then a blush, Caleb realized what had stopped him. He smirked. “Still holding out?”

Tyler sighed. “I guess.”

“What are you waiting for?” he asked in calm seriousness, as though it weren’t a joke but an honest question born from real curiosity.

“I was…” He shifted uncomfortably, but in their current position he had nowhere to escape to. “Saving it,” he admitted and cringed at the lameness of it.

Caleb nodded. “For what?”

Tyler squirmed on the counter, looking around the kitchen anxiously. He’d never been a good liar but at least he could usually ignore the questions. It was almost impossible to ignore a question by Caleb.

“Baby Boy?”

“It’s stupid.”

“Tell me.”

Tyler cringed as he felt the truth boiling up inside himself. “I wanted my first time to be with the same person that was my first kiss.” He stared off to the side. “I don’t know why. I just always thought it would be him. And now that I know it won’t be… I guess I don’t know how to change my mind.”

Caleb was about to say something when they heard Pogue and Reid bantering as they came down the stairs. Caleb gave Tyler a reassuring smile before returning to his bowl of scrambled eggs—letting the boy jump down from the counter just as the others walked into the kitchen.

“Where’s the coffee, Cay?” Reid instantly complained.

“Make it yourself,” Caleb retorted as he put a pan on the stove.

“Eggs?” Pogue smiled as he rounded his friend, peeking at the food.

Tyler had picked up the bread from the floor and set it on the counter.

“French toast,” Caleb corrected.

Reid whistled happily before grabbing Tyler by the arm- tugging him out of the kitchen and toward the living room. “Tell us when it’s ready!”

Pogue watched the two go, leaning his back to the counters beside Caleb as they drifted into the space of couches, sitting in front of the television. Reid put a game controller in the other boy’s hands before taking one for himself and plopping down next to him. It was mornings like this when it was hard for Pogue to think that they had aged at all. 12 or 20, they were still boys playing games.

“Everything okay with Tyler?” Pogue asked casually as Caleb started cooking.

He shrugged. “Turns out he liked what he saw.”

Pogue reached back to hold onto the counter, wondering if his knees would give out. “He said that?”

Another shrug. “I talked to him about it. He got hard.”

His knees really did wobble then. Caleb saved his bluntness for his best friend—probably as some form of revenge for Pogue’s own usually tactless answers. “And?”

Caleb flipped one of the toasts in the pan. “I blew him.”

Pogue’s attention snapped to the man at his side. Caleb almost never blew anyone—certainly not anyone that couldn’t at least pretend to force him to his knees. Pogue had been lucky enough to play that roll one a handful of occasions. He saw color creep into Caleb’s cheeks under the questioning stare—his eyes fixed on the bread in the pan. “I didn’t want him to be afraid of me,” he murmured as matter-of-factly as possible.

Before Pogue could think better of it, he had reached out and turned the other to face him- lips molding to lips and tongue forcing its way in. Caleb tensed but gave in quickly, parting his lips to the tongue that greedily swept over every inch of his mouth. When Pogue pulled away his eyes were closed, his tongue stroking his own lips as he tasted the hint of something organic and not Caleb.

The eldest sighed and returned his attention to the toast. “If you want him that bad you should make a move.”

He sighed and leaned back against the counters, staring across the large room at the living room and the boys in it. “You know how Ty is… always trying to make everyone else happy. He might not say no if he’s not interested… he might just let me.” Pogue’s words were quiet, horribly over thought and ending in a pang of desire.

Caleb laughed lightly. “I don’t know. He shot me down pretty easy.”

Pogue raised an eyebrow and looked at his brother. The only people he ever really felt possessive of were his brothers and the only people that couldn’t make him jealous were them as well. No matter how much he wanted Tyler, it wouldn’t have hurt him to know that Caleb or Reid had been his first. In fact, he’d been waiting quite patiently for Reid to finally get through. “He said ‘no’ to you?”

Caleb nodded. “He’s waiting.” He smiled and there was a hint of something hopeful there, like a daydream that hid in the corner of his eyes. “He wants it to be the same person he gave his first kiss too.” It was romantic and naïve. It was Tyler.

Pogue turned his head to look across the room again, at the boys in front of the television. His first kiss. He remembered the first time he’d kissed Tyler. The boy was about to turn thirteen and scared of getting his first hint of power. He had found him crying in one of the parlors, picked him up, straightened him up, told him that it would be okay because they would always be there for each other, and then kissed him. It had been nothing but chaste but still Tyler had blushed a bright red and bit his lower lip after to keep from smiling.

He shook his head. It couldn’t have been his first. He was thirteen.

“Hey!” Reid called back across the room, jarring him from his thoughts. “Are you guys still in for that new club tonight? If it sucks we can skip out and find a bar, maybe one with pool tables!”

Caleb snorted and smiled. “Yeah, sure,” he called back.


	3. Shot Glass

There was something dangerous about the feel of a shot glass between his fingers. One held it like it was frail, like the small portion of liquid inside was sacred or feared, and then swallowed it down as though it were the cure to a poison that ailed all men. At least, Tyler thought this as he picked up another one from the bar and threw it back. The club was loud. So loud that the floor pulsed. They had been there for an hour that felt like more.

Everything had started off fine. Tyler had even tried to convince himself to seek out a moment with Pogue. They were brothers after all. He wouldn’t make fun of him if he asked him to be serious. But then it occurred to him that since they were brothers, since Pogue did love him one way or another, he’d probably bite the bullet and sleep with him. Tyler’s chest hurt at the thought of him being obligated to go to bed with him. The more he drank the more he just wished that he could be done with this problem, pulled from this situation and dropped back into his life so that he could finally enjoy all of the affection and love his brother’s offered.

A chest leaned into his back, pressing his stomach to the bar a little. A hand slid along his thigh, a mouth near his ear. At first he thought it was one of them, but quickly realized the touch was foreign. He twisted around, moving an arm between himself and the other to get some space. The man smiled, probably the same age as him, and reached out to run fingers up the blade of Tyler’s jaw to his chin, tipping his chin high. He was a handsome boy, though Tyler had never seen him before. He found his arm relaxing, letting the stranger lean in and kiss him. His tongue tasted like vodka, or maybe that was his own. His hands were rough the way they grabbed, but he told himself that hands were hands.

Soon enough he was pulling Tyler across the room of writhing bodies and music, the floor sticky under their shoes with alcohol, spit and various other leaked fluids from the night and possibly the one before. Tyler cringed but kept on walking with him, his heart hammering in his chest when they snuck into the bathrooms. They waited a minute in silence while another man washed his hands and left, and then the stranger locked the door.

The room was quieter, the blaring music now a vibrating hum outside the walls. The florescent lights flickered in a yellow color that made everything look a little dirty. It wasn’t until he was pressing him to the cold tile wall that Tyler realized how much larger the stranger was than him. But it seemed every time his mind tried to find words there was a pickled tongue choking him. Those hands were no gentler here than they had been at the bar, and wasted no time in pulling open the fly of Tyler’s jeans.

His heart launched into a fluttering panic, his hands pushing at that chest to get some space between them again but it did nothing. Suddenly he was turned and bent over the sink, his jeans pulled down to his thighs. He had only himself to stare at in the smudged mirror. “No.” He shivered, trying to stand, but a hand pushed him down, hips pushing his thighs hard against the porcelain.

There were tears in his eyes when he said it again, the stranger ignoring him as he pulled his own pants open to free his hard sex, his hand already working himself into a grunt of pleasure. “Hey!” Tyler hissed angrily, still struggling against the hand that kept him down. “I said stop!” He was on the verge of using, Caleb’s anger be damned, when a thumb shoved harshly into his ass. His body shook as his mouth dropped open in a gasp of pain that set free the tears in his eyes.

“Son of a bitch!” an all too familiar voice came from the door.

Pogue had been watching Tyler for most of the night. He had seemed alright, dancing with Reid and a few others, smiling uncomfortably- the way Tyler often smiled at places like these, but then he’d gone to the bar. He hadn’t intended to interrupt. It was Tyler’s business who he screwed and where. They had all agreed long ago that they could do whatever they wanted with people outside the covenant, as long as no one ever came before a brother again and no one found out their secret.

When he crossed the dance floor to the bathroom’s he had only intended to peek—just to be sure that everything was okay. He could feel Caleb and Reid following him- maybe they had seen the same thing. He used a little to unlock the door, sliding it open silently. He had never expected to find what he did.

He had walked in just in time to hear that sound of pain tearing up from Tyler’s throat, his hands shakily clinging to the sink as tears fell from his jaw to the porcelain, one of the other guy’s hands keeping him bent over. He could see the youngest’s face in the mirror and understood every line of his expression.

Pogue hadn’t needed anymore thought or words. He crossed the bathroom in a rush that slammed the other guy off of Tyler and into the wall, a fist colliding with his face to have his skull bouncing off of the tiles. He groaned and slumped as though to fall, but Pogue had fisted his hands in the guy’s shirt, turning him further away from Tyler before letting go and swinging again. His cheek split under those knuckles that time, his body tumbling back onto the floor, but Pogue was still on him, kneeling now to punch again and again.

“Pogue...” Tyler tried to call but his voice was too hoarse.

Reid and Caleb were suddenly in the room too, Caleb locking the door while Reid crossed quickly to stand between Tyler and the beating on the floor.

“Pogue!” Caleb shouted and the other stopped, fist still poised to fall again. The other was unconscious on the floor, his face a mess, but his chest moving for air.

Reid’s jaw twitched angrily but he quickly pulled Tyler’s pants up, buttoning them before straightening the boy’s shirt and rubbing the tears from his face.

“What happened?” Caleb demanded, the voice that would not be ignored.

Tyler shuddered and sighed, looking anywhere but at any of them. “I lead him on,” the youngest admitted with embarrassment. “He was drunk and then I changed my mind and he wouldn’t stop.” It was little more than a whisper, bringing more tears up to his eyes.

Caleb sighed and nodded. “Take him home, Reid.”

The blond nodded and took Tyler by the arm, pulling him toward the door. He reached out to grab Caleb’s sleeve, the eldest looking down at the youngest. “I think he was just drunk, Cay..” Tyler whispered nervously. He was surprised when their leader managed to smile softly and touch his hand. “We’ll talk about it when we get home.”

Reid pulled and Tyler let go of the sleeve.

Caleb looked at Pogue, still kneeling over the other and glaring, his bloody fingers still curled into fists.

“You need to man up,” Caleb finally spoke and the words were so surprising that Pogue actually forgot the bastard on the floor.

He stood and turned, glaring at his closest friend. “What?”

“It’s gone on long enough, Po,” he hissed, lips curling and eyes so dark and yet still natural. “Baby Boy has a soft spot for you, he always has.”

“We never even hang out without the rest of you.”

“He’s your brother. He loves you. Fuck him.”

Pogue shuddered at the harsh language, it wasn’t often that Caleb would say something so vulgar. “You said he was saving it.”

Caleb arched an eyebrow and then gestured toward the mess of a man on the floor. “Obviously he’s over that. Ball up and make a move.” He was turning for the door when his friend spoke again.

“What if he doesn’t want to?” Pogue asked again, his words edged in doubt.

Caleb groaned and drug his fingers back through his hair, turning around to face him again. “Then I’ll take care of it. But can you really keep ignoring your desire for him? What if you hadn’t followed him to the bathroom?” Pogue cringed and Caleb nodded as though it were a reply. “You’re not like this guy, Po.” He nudged his chin toward the guy on the floor. “Make a move.”

 

* * *

 

The car ride felt like hours. Tyler had stared at the dashboard grimly, feeling shame and discomfort swimming inside him. Reid drove and for the first time in his life, said nothing. His knuckles were white from holding the steering wheel so hard. When they pulled into the driveway he got out of the car before Tyler could say anything. He waited until the youngest got out too before walking up the path to the door. He opened it and waited.

Head still dropped shamefully, Tyler walk in. He started for the stairs but Reid finally spoke.

“Nah-uh.” He flicked on the lights and nudged his head toward the living room. “Sit.”

Tyler cringed but turned like an obedient and soon to be scolded child. He sat down on the couch. “I’m sorry.”

Reid sighed and sat beside him. “For being stupid?”

Tyler swallowed and looked at his knees. “I guess.”

“You still drunk?”

Tyler thought about it for a moment before feeling even more pathetic. “Maybe.”

There was silence and then another question. “How far?”

“What?”

“How far did he get?” Reid’s voice was low and dark.

Tyler cringed and then shrugged to cover it up. “Not far.”

“Baby Boy.”

Tyler shifted uncomfortably. “He got a finger in…” He almost thought he saw Reid flinch. But Reid never flinched. He had seen the boy take beatings with a bleeding smile.

The blond leaned back to rest against the comfort of the couch beside Tyler. “You should have used. Shrunk his dick down to a peanut or something.”

Tyler sighed and nodded. “I know. I just froze…”

Reid frowned deeply. Even though he didn’t use as frivolously as he had in their teens, he was definitely the most experienced and comfortable with his powers.

When Caleb and Pogue got home the other boys were still sitting on the couch. Reid stood when they walked in, stretching like a cat. “I’m going to bed,” he said casually but there was an edge to it that screamed ‘drop it’. Tyler sighed gratefully when Caleb nodded and headed upstairs after Reid. He had wanted to catch up to the other, maybe talk to him, but the blond had moved quickly and closed his door with a firm thud.

Tyler suddenly found himself left in the living room with Pogue. He stared at the floor, anxiously awaiting a verbal lashing that never came. He tried not to yawn but it couldn’t be stopped. His eyes blinking heavily as his hand tapped his mouth. He prayed it didn’t make Pogue angrier, didn’t make him think this wasn’t important.

To his surprise the other laughed a little and when he looked up he saw him shaking his head. “Come on, Baby Boy.” He reached out and waited for Tyler to put his hand in his before hoisting him to his feet.

It wasn’t until he was following Pogue up the stairs that he realized just how worn out he was. His feet barely made each step. He had expected to be ushered to his room but instead found himself being nudged into the large bathroom. When the lights came on they made him cringe, his head throbbing. With a whine he rubbed at them.

“Don’t start complaining. No one forced those shots on you,” Pogue said as he turned on the shower, letting the water heat until steam was building in the room.

“I don’t need to shower.”

Pogue laughed lightly again. “I think we’ll leave that up to the people who have to smell you.” He lifted the boy’s shirt, smiling softly at how naturally Tyler raised his arms for him, letting him take his clothes away.

It wasn’t until Pogue’s hands were working his pants open that he realized he was being stripped. His eyes opened with a new burst of attention, just as Pogue pushed his jeans down to have them pooling on the ground around his feet- having him suddenly naked in the middle of the bathroom. “Get in,” Pogue said as he pulled off his own shirt.

Tyler drew a breath of warm steam as he stared at the other boy. It wasn’t like he’d never seen Pogue naked before or showered with him—though it had been at least a year and was usually a bit more public. He found himself staring at the other opened his jeans and shimmied out of them, standing in front of him naked and unabashed. Tyler was so focused on trying not to blush that he had failed to put his will against the swelling of his own cock.

Pogue smiled and it was a lazy grin that spoke of arrogance and pride. He opened the shower door. “In,” he said again. The room was dark grey tile, more of a square than a rectangle, with a large showerhead on one side. He watched Tyler climb in and would have allowed himself to groan at the movement of that naked body, if only he couldn’t see the hint of a bruise forming on his back over his spine where the other hand had been. It matched the ones on the tops of his thighs where they’d been slammed to the sink.

What if he hadn’t followed his brother? The thought threatened to haunt him but luckily Pogue had always been a man that chose action over fear or regret. Which is what made it so strange that he had taken so long with Tyler, been so careful that he had almost lost him. It had been the fear that his actions would finally cause him regret. He let the spray of the shower wash that worry away. Caleb had a good eye for things, especially things that involved his brothers. If he said it was okay to make a move, Pogue would trust his judgment.

He pushed the length of his hair back, wet and darkened. His eyes narrowing as he watched Tyler stand under the water flow, his eyes closed, and his head leaned in until it immerged on the other side. His hands pressed to the wall, letting the stream crash on his back. Pogue did groan then, advancing the one step needed to have his hips and half filled cock press into the youngest’s ass. The boy tensed but didn’t move to pull away. Pogue stroked a hand down the other’s spine, disturbing the waterfall there. His eyes flashed black when they moved over the forming bruise, washing it away.

Tyler shivered. “Po?”

He slid his hands over Tyler’s hips, down to brush fingers against bruised thighs. Another flicker of night in eyes and perfect pale skin was returned. “What, Baby Boy?”

His arms shook a little, still reached forward to hold himself up against the wall. He wanted so much to rub his ass back against those hips. “Are you still angry?” He wanted to smack himself in the forehead for asking, for possibly redirecting Pogue’s wonderful attention.

“Yes,” he admitted with a soft curve of his lips.

“I’m sorry Po. I just—” His words cut off as he was suddenly turned, his back pressed up against the wet wall and his lips sealed by the others. Her heart fluttered to life, his lips trembling open for that tongue to finally slide in. Why did it feel like it had been years since Pogue last kissed him? His arms came up to curl around those broad shoulders, lifting himself up to wrap his legs around Pogue’s waist.

Both boys moaned when their bodies ground together, cocks hard and slick from the water, rubbing with every unified roll of their hips. Pogue’s kiss was urgent with passion, burning like fire the way that Pogue did everything. His fingers curled under Tyler’s thighs, squeezing enough to make him groan but never hurt. His body arched against the wall as he rubbed himself wildly against the larger boy. Tyler’s lips had parted wide, gasping at steam and mewling loudly. His eyes were slanted and sharp as he looked up at Pogue, watching with true satisfaction as pleasure splayed across his features.

They rocked and rocked. Rubbing harder and faster until Tyler was digging fingers into the back of Pogue’s shoulders and Pogue was muffling his sounds into the curve of Tyler’s throat. Their bodies erupted at once, shooting the proof of their pleasure up their chests.

After another few blissful moments, Pogue let Tyler stand again, finding the soap to give them both a good washing. They talked in the shower and there was such comfort and relief to it. Pogue could no longer remember why he had withdrawn so far from his youngest brother but was grateful that nothing was ever unmendable between them.

When they got out, he threw a towel over Tyler’s head and grab another for himself.

The boy suddenly seemed nervous once they were dried off and leaving the bathroom for the hall. He wasn’t sure what to expect when Tyler cleared his throat and shifted nervously. “Do you wanna,” He shifted again, rubbing the back of his wet hair and forcing his eyes up to Pogue’s. He was being brave. He was sick of looking at the floor and dreaming. “Do you want to sleep in my room tonight?”

The words came out and he felt both a wave of relief and fresh panic. And then Pogue smiled.

“I’d like that.” He draped an arm over Tyler’s shoulders and started them down the hall toward the boy’s room. “But I think we might actually need to sleep.” He smiled wider to himself when he heard disappointment in Tyler’s breath. “Before,” he added.

 

* * *

 

Caleb’s room was the only one with its own shower. Being the eldest, the only one with two doses of power, and the one that killed to protect them- he had called dibs. Although Tyler had stipulated at the time that it was the last time he could use the Chase card to get anything. He walked from the bathroom into his dark bedroom, rubbing his hair with a towel.

He had only taken a few steps into the room before stopping short. Reid was sitting a chair off to the side, between him and his path to bed. Caleb glanced at his bedroom door, still locked, and then back to the blond. He had used to creep into his room. “Reid…”

“It’s your fault,” the haughty blond cut in, his voice sharp with temper as he stood from the chair. He was in his pajama pants and nothing else, the thin cotton barely clinging to the curve of his hips. He stood with his arms at his sides, his shoulders pressed down and his hips just slightly rocked to the side. It was how he stood when he wanted to fight.

Caleb fought not to give in, not to play along with that temper, but he’d always had a weak spot for Reid’s words. “Excuse me?”

“He didn’t use,” Reid hissed. “He would have let that bastard rape him because he couldn’t think to use, because it didn’t come naturally.”

Now all hope of being the reasonable one flew out the window. “Don’t you start with that shit, Reid. He didn’t need to use. We were there.”

“Barely!” Reid roared and his eyes sparked before going black.

Caleb’s eyes widened. “Don’t you dare.”

Reid hissed through his teeth and Caleb felt power slam into him, pushing him back until his arms had to catch against the fame of the bathroom doorway. The wood began to crack as Reid’s power continued to press. He was taking steps closer now, his bare feet moving soundlessly across the carpet. “What if we weren’t there?” He shivered and Caleb saw the flicker of old worry in the boy’s eyes. “What if next time you aren’t there?”

He groaned against the waves of power clawing at his skin. “Reid,” he ground out before finally throwing his own power at the blond, pushing away the bonds that had pressed him back and slamming the boy off his feet. Reid sucked air as his back slammed into the ceiling, his body stuck there under Caleb’s will.

The power flooded his system, twice the amount than he was meant to have. It made his head swim and his body purr to hold the other captive on the ceiling, to unload the power on him until he could see Reid’s vein’s pressing at his skin, his eyes rolling back, and the heave of his chest growing frantic.

Just as quickly as it had taken over, Caleb had pushed it back. He gasped in panic as he withdrew his power, dropping Reid to the floor and rushing to his side.

The blond gasped and coughed for air, letting the older boy roll him onto his back before pushing him away. Stubborn and angry, Reid pushed himself to his feet, staggering and still shoving at Caleb’s attempts at help. “Fuck you!” he yelled angrily.

Caleb cringed but didn’t let him go, grabbing hold of the boys arms to pull him back to him. “Reid.” He tried to turn away so Caleb moved a hand to his neck, pulling that face closer to his. “Reid.” He was still panting himself, his forehead leaning to Reid’s temple. “I’m sorry.”

The blond sneered, still looking away. He didn’t want soft words when he was in these moods, because deep down he knew that he was lashing out and apologies would only make him feel guilty. Deep down, Caleb imagined, that Reid thought he deserved being thrown to the ceiling. It was why he always picked fights with the one guy he couldn’t beat.

“We’ll always be here to take care of each other,” Caleb promised in the dark. “I’ll always be here to take care of them.”

Reid’s lips curled. “Liar.”

Caleb wanted to sigh in defeat. He knew this mood. Knew why Reid had come to him and not one of the others. His body was surging with the desire to use, to break loose of laws and rules, to ruin everything he held dear. Sometimes, Reid was like the flesh bound form of chaos, seeking out Caleb to save him from himself.

His jaw flexed as he held Reid’s arm tighter, suddenly swinging him into movement and shoving him toward the bed.

Reid resisted. He always did on these nights. He shoved back, he squirmed, he writhed when he was pinned to the mattress. But his eyes never turned black. The first time one of these nights had happened it had been awful- at least for Caleb. Reid had pushed and pushed until his temper had snapped, his power overflowing with the need to dominate Reid, to teach him who was in charge, to show him what he could do to protect them. They had Used that time, fighting each other the whole way. When Caleb came too again his room had been wrecked and there beneath him laid Reid, bruised, exhausted, and bleeding. Caleb had almost cried, shaking as he thought of all that his temper had ruined- their friendship, their family, even their volatile romance. But then Reid had let out a satisfied sigh, looking more sedate than he had ever seen him. He had whispered a thank you that had been more soul searing than anything Caleb had ever heard. It had been the first time that Caleb had realized that Reid ever needed him- and for weeks after that Reid had barely used at all.

Eventually Caleb had realized how to have these nights without Using, and without hurting the other more than was desired. Reid tried to get away again, a vain attempt that he knew would be stopped. Caleb grabbed the blond by the neck, pinning his back to the bed as his other hand stripped his pajama pants down his legs, throwing them away before smothering that rebellious mouth with his own.

Reid bit at his lip and Caleb groaned before pulling away. He picked up and flipped the blond over, pulling him onto his knees to have his ass in the air. Reid made to like he was going to crawl away just to force Caleb to grab his thighs and pull him back, one hand spreading his cheeks to rub a fingertip against the pucker of his entrance. With a flash of his eyes and a little magic he coated Reid’s inside with lube, making the other boy moan at the sudden sensation, his forehead rubbing against the sheets as Caleb sunk the first finger into him. A few thrusts and then a second fingers, a few thrusts and then a third. Reid was panting against the mattress now, saliva staining the bed as she clenched and unclenched his fists. “Come on…. Cay… Please…” he groaned and rolled his hips back against the hand that worked digits inside him. “Fuck me!”

“Why?" Caleb purred coldly, still jabbing his fingers in and out, pushing as far as his knuckles would allow.

Reid mewled and whimpered, his tongue working against his lips and the sheet. “Don’t… Don’t make me say it…”

Caleb stopped suddenly, fingers thrusted in and still. “Say it Reid.”

The boy groaned and hissed against the mattress, ass squirming but held still by Caleb’s other hand. “Caleb!” Reid tried to command with temper even from that position.

“Say it.”

His hissing turned to needy whining, fingers trembling against the covers. His eyes lost some of their flare as he shivered out the words, barely a whisper. “I need you.”

Caleb shuddered and pulled his fingers out, holding the solid length of his cock to the other boy entrance. “Again,” He breathed, pressing the head of his dick in and watching as Reid’s mouth opened wider, his eyes glazing. “Reid…” Caleb’s voice warned, he sounded like he was pressing up against the last wall of his own restraint, but they all knew that Caleb could always find more.

The blond shivered. “I need you,” he breathed, moaning when the other sunk fully into him and wasted no time building a pace.

His hands twisted in the covers, his lips wide against the sheet, and his body rocking back and forth under the thrusts of Caleb’s hips.

Caleb’s hands dug into his sides, pulling him in to meet his thrusts, his eyes rolling as he gave way to the abandon that was Reid. He wondered if the blond was like this with anyone else. He had seen him and Pogue together a few times, they were all mischief and desire, but nothing like this. His thoughts strayed to Reid’s countless other lovers outside the covenant, but never for long. Others invoked jealousy. Caleb could accept Reid needing their other brothers the same way he needed him, but he couldn’t live with him needing someone else like this. Someone outside of their home.

His hips slammed again, harder, and he felt Reid’s entire body lurch forward and tense, cresting and coming on the rumpled covers. “Caleb!” the blond screamed, body spasming almost violently. With a groan and another thrust Caleb followed his lover, filling him before sighing contently and withdrawing, rolling onto his back on the bed.

Reid shivered and stayed in place, ass still in the air, until Caleb reached over and grabbed his waist, pulling him to lie against his side. No matter how much Caleb loved the storm that was Reid, it was in the calm between that he thought he really knew his brother, really felt him exposed.

 


	4. Ash

Tyler woke with a shuddered moan, eyes fluttering open- surprised to find that the sound had been his own. He was staring up at his ceiling, lying in the warmth of his bed, but the warmth was not his alone. His lips parted wider to take in a long breath as a hand encircled him, moving slowly. “Pogue,” he breathed the name and felt the mouth of the other man smile against the skin of his neck, a thumb brushing over the head of his cock before stroking more.

“Yes?” Pogue’s voice was deep and husky, one arm still curled under Tyler’s head as it had been while they slept, the other stretched mischievously down the length of the man’s naked chest with his hand lost in those loose pajama pants, moving with a rhythmic pumping inside.

Tyler’s mind reeled. Was he supposed to have a question? Was he supposed to say something? “W-what time is it?” Stupid! He shivered and grabbed at Pogue’s sculpted shoulder, as though he was afraid his hand might pull away.

Pogue laughed softly and moved his mouth up neck to cheek. “Morning. Suns not even up yet.”

Tyler shuddered and nodded, rocking his hips lightly into the curled hand.

“Tell me something,” Pogue whispered against his ear.

Tyler responded with a moan, nodding his head.

Pogue moved his hand a little faster, his tongue flicking against his ear. “Who was your first kiss, Baby Boy?”

He would have tensed if his body wasn’t so captivated by the sensation in his groin, he shivered and tried to focus, tried to feel something other than raw desire. It seemed what cleverness he might have had was lost. “You were,” Tyler admitted, biting his lower lip and sucking it into his mouth. He closed his eyes and arched, pressing his head back into the pillow and groaning as he came in his pants, Pogue’s hand stroking until the last burst of white was set free and his body was left trembling on the mattress.

With a grin, Pogue shifted his arm out from under Tyler and quickly stripped the man of his pants, throwing them onto the floor. It was all he needed to know. If he was Tyler’s first kiss than he was the one Tyler had been waiting for all this time. It was his. He groaned when Tyler sat up, one of his shaky hands pushing Pogue to lie down again. He loved watching those naked limbs move, loved seeing Tyler’s face flush with desire and his thighs shaking slightly—he couldn’t wait to make them tremble against his sides.

His eyebrow quirked when Tyler straddled him with his back to him but moaned when the man sat down on his chest, his balls and semi-hard cock were hot against his skin. Nimble fingers pushed Pogue’s pants down his defined hips until his own sex was bare. His hand stroked Tyler’s back as he watched the man bend forward and felt that soft mouth open up around his cock, tongue twirling against his head. Pogue’s head fell back against the pillow, chest rumbling with approving sounds as Tyler sucked him. The wet sounds grew louder and he resisted the urge to thrust up into that throat.

His hands took Tyler’s thighs, pulling until his ass was up, his body now crouched on all fours over Pogue’s. His hands stroked up to the man’s ass, pulling the cheeks apart gently to take a real look at him. He could feel Tyler shiver, was that hesitation? Pogue smiled and leaned up, tongue slipping out past lips to press against that small hole. Tyler jolted, a saliva slick cock slipped from his mouth as he gasped. Pogue’s tongue pressed into him, siphoning saliva into his small entrance, licking and sucking until Tyler was crying out and clawing at the sheets.

Pogue drew back, wetting his finger before pressing it against that pucker, using that moment of Tyler’s mewling delight to slide the digit into him. He could feel his body tensing around his finger, his own cock throbbing with anticipation.

“Po…” Tyler groaned, but his attempt at words fell into disjointed sounds as that finger started moving in and out. One soon becoming two until he could feel the resistance of his own body, could feel himself shaking down to his core as those fingers scissored inside of him, twisting and thrusting, curling until something sparked and his whole body lurched forward, panting and moaning. He felt like he was going to come again, felt like he was going to cry if something didn’t happen soon.

Pogue turned them and before Tyler could register anything but the absence of those fingers, he was on his back on the bed, hands pushing his legs up until they bent against his sides. He pressed the head of his hard sex against that swollen entrance, pushing with his hips and watching Tyler’s face as the man’s mouth dropped open, his body straining under the weight and demand of the other’s. His hands grabbed at Pogue’s shoulders, his teeth gritting. “Po…” he bit out, the pressure felt so great that it was practically choking him.

Pogue stroked the thigh’s he’d captured, his hips pushing deeper until he was finally buried, until he could finally moan. It took everything he had not to pull back and thrust in again, not to take what he wanted so badly. He leaned over Tyler, his lips brushing softly. “Baby Boy,” he whispered, watching as the man held his breath and then finally released it with a tremor, his eyes opening- glazed and full of desire. “Are you alright?” Po’s words breathed against his lips.

Tyler shuddered and arched, squirming under him, his body squeezing Pogue’s cock. “Please…” Tyler trembled. “More,” he gasped at air, squeezing his arms. “Please, Po. Please!”

Pogue moaned and drew his hips back before pushing them forward again, sheathing himself in the other man’s body again and again. He moaned and watched the erotic display on the younger man’s face, the way his lips parted wide, the way his eyes rolled backward when he sunk into him. He was panting and gasping as though he couldn’t get air. His legs pressed between their bodies, his back still straining to rock his hips up into those hard thrusts. He was so full that his stomach ached, his limbs burned, and still he couldn’t stop grabbing at Pogue for more, begging for it to be harder and faster. He was so close that when Pogue finally hit that spot inside him, his entire body spasmed, jolting so hard that his teeth mashed, his cum shooting up his own chest.

After a few more rolls of his hips and soul deep moan, Pogue had followed him into ecstasy, filling his body with sticky heat. It took minutes that felt like blissful hours for their breathing to settle again, for Pogue to slide carefully out of him. The older man grabbed an article of discarded clothing from the side of the bed, to clean up the youngest, kissing his shoulder softly before tucking them back in and pulling him up against his body. Tyler sighed with satisfaction against that warm chest, closing his eyes. “I feel like I’ve waited forever for that.”

Pogue smiled and kissed the top of his head. “Well I won’t keep you waiting anymore.”

 

* * *

 

Reid had awoken suddenly. It was barely morning and Caleb was still sleeping at his side. His throat was dry, so dry he couldn’t cough. Slipping from that warm body he quickly crept from the room into the hall- always going for the hall bathroom rather than Caleb’s out of habit more than anything else. No one used Caleb’s bathroom unless invited.

He ran the sink and practically sucked the water from the nozzle. The first swallow burned, the second wouldn’t go down at all. He coughed and coughed until finally a mass of black overflowed from his lips, spilling into the sink. Tar? He panted and spat, fingers rubbing the substance from his lips. His eyes widened as he looked at it. Wet ash.

With shaking hands he quickly rinsed the sink out before returning to his own room. Ash. It seemed familiar, like something he had learned as a man. Maybe a punishment for using? A curse? Would one of the other’s play a trick on him like that? No. Not his brothers. It was some strange side affect. Had to be. And still, he couldn’t sleep. Could only stare at the ceiling and taste the ash in his mouth.

 


	5. Water

Three weeks. Three weeks and always the same dream. He could feel the fire on his skin, could feel it burning, bubbling, and pealing back. All he could do was scream. It was always the same man that made the nightmare, the same voice. “Burn witch,” he would whisper. His hands were flames, searing flesh where he touched, grabbed, and groped.

Eventually the hand would grab his throat, pulling Reid’s body back into his, forcing his way inside of him, moving violently, burning him from the inside until all he could taste was the flames. Until he choked on the ashes of his own body.

Reid woke with a jolt and found himself in one of the plush chairs of the university library. They were set up for reading but more times than not students would use them for napping between classes. The lights were dim and the windows showed only the pitch of night. With a sigh he scrubbed a shaky hand over his face. He’d been finding every excuse he could not to go home- every excuse to avoid his brothers—but he missed them so much that it hurt. He wanted the comfort of his own bed, of their living space together, and the protection of his lovers. But he couldn’t risk it, couldn’t let it spread to them.

He had read the book over and over. But there was nothing like the fire he choked on night and again. With an exhausted groan he rolled to his feet and reached for his bag on the table. The chair he had left sizzled and when he turned to look back, it was on burning, catching fire right before his eyes. For a moment he thought it was a dream again, but the fire took too long to spread, the smoke making him cough as he staggered back. His eyes flashed, intent on putting it out, but the fire only crackled with anger and grew. It spread to the wall of books and from there began to consume the entire room with growing vigor.

For a long moment he waited, frozen and expecting that awful man to immerge for him. And then the fire alarm sounded, screaming to life and jolting him back to reality. His legs burst into action, launching him in a sprint through the building and out into the night. It was raining and the cold drops made it feel like his skin was sizzling. One of the librarians outside shouted at him, but he didn’t stop—running across the dark campus and away from the sirens and the growing flames.

 

* * *

 

“Reid’s sister called again,” Pogue grumbled as he followed Caleb upstairs. “Said he’s not answering his phone.”

Caleb snorted in annoyance. He was fully aware that Reid had stopped answering his phone- they all were. At first he said he had things to do and that was enough for the rest of them. They all knew that every so often the blond had to cut loose, get away from his classes and his responsibilities. It had been better in the past to let him go, to wait and know that he would return as he always had. But days had become weeks this time and Reid was only getting harder to find. Caleb hadn’t seen him at all in a week.

“What did she want this time?” He tried not to sound annoyed but Reid’s older sister was hardly high on his list of cares at the moment. Even if he didn’t have other problems, the woman was a bit high maintenance.

“Her boy’s graduating Spenser. She’s sending him up here this weekend.” It had been a plan for a while. Reid was supposed to show the kid around. Reid’s father had had his first daughter quite young, and she in turn had had a son only a few years after Reid’s birth. Chastity and patience simply weren’t virtues of the Garwin family.

Caleb sighed and rubbed his neck. “Right.” He stopped in the hallway, staring down the corridor at Reid’s bedroom door. He wanted to respect his brother’s privacy, he did. They had come so far in these last years. “Has he talked to you?”

Pogue shook his head and Caleb felt his worry. “Not in more than a week. Ty has a morning class with him—says he shows but there’s something off. He said Reid looked tired…more so than usual for a morning class that is.”

Caleb crossed the hall and with a little craft he unlocked Reid’s bedroom door. Inside was the usual mess of belongings, rumpled bedding, and piles of clothing. He walked around but saw nothing that would tell him anything. And then, just when he was ready to leave, he smelt it- smoke. It was in the walls, the carpet, the clothes. Tentatively he walked up to the bed and grabbed corners of the piled comforter. He shook it out and bits of soot and ash flung everywhere—hovering in the air like dirty snow before drifting down again.

“What the hell?” Pogue uttered from the doorway.

Caleb had no idea what to say in return.

 

* * *

 

The next day they had waited outside Tyler and Reid’s class, hoping to catch the boy on his way out. He hadn’t shown and to make matters worse the university library had been burnt down. There was talk of arson and a blond male student.

It had been by sheer luck that Pogue saw Reid’s car parked alongside one of the town’s shabbier bars. He pulled his bike in beside it and marched in. He had expected to find the blond up to his usual tricks—but he wasn’t at the pool tables. He wasn’t even on the dancefloor or fooling around with some lucky stranger in the bathroom. No, Reid was sitting at the corner table, looking worse than Pogue had ever seen him.

There were bags under those blue eyes and his cheeks looked sunken in. Something about the way his clothing seemed to hang on him as he slouched in the booth made Pogue nervous. He saw Reid tense when he sat down across from him. Had he only just realized he was there?

“Where have you been?”

Reid’s lips pressed, they were raw and cracked. Was that supposed to be a smile?

“There was a fire at the school.” Pogue watched the man tense. “In the library. No one was hurt.”

A bitter exhale passed those abused lips, making Pogue even more uneasy.

“Did you set the fire?”

Reid shivered and reached out, fingers circling the glass in front of him. He was about to lift it when Pogue’s palm capped the top of it, pressing it back to the table. “You’ve had enough.” That was when he noticed the soot smudges on Reid’s fingers. He snatched the blonde’s wrist, pulling his hand toward himself. “You’ve been setting fires?” Pogue asked again. Always a question, never an accusation. Reid could tell him that a leprechaun had done it and the older boy would have accepted it, would have fought anyone else who called him a liar, just as long as his brother could be innocent. It was one of the reasons Reid had trouble lying to Pogue.

He could spit lies at Caleb any day, because the brunet hardly believed him when he told the truth. But Pogue… Pogue wanted the reason and no matter what it was, he’d take care of it.

Reid flinched under the other’s grip and Pogue saw it. Before the younger blond could speak or pull away, Pogue had pushed his long sleeve up his forearm. His once pale skin was red and welted, marked with fresh burns in the shape of hands that held his arms. Pogue shuddered and wasn’t sure if it was fear, disgust, or anger.

Reid jerked his arm free and muttered a curse. He reached for the glass on the table again but Pogue was faster. The older boy needed a stiff drink, needed a moment to think. He downed the glass and then coughed with confusion. His eyes found Reid once against slumped in the corner. “It’s water,” Pogue said with disbelief. Reid never drank water, especially not at a bar.

“You should go home,” he spoke at last, his voice like gravel in his throat.

Pogue frowned. “Like hell I should! What’s going on Reid? Who did that? Why would you let someone burn you?” His voice was soft thunder, but down into hushed rage by his clenched teeth. But when Reid opened his eyes, Pogue saw the frustration, exhaustion, and fear glistening in tears over blue. The tears didn’t fall. Pogue didn’t know what he would do if they had. Reid didn’t cry. Hadn’t cried since they were in elementary school.

“I didn’t _let_ anyone,” he whispered in a hiss before shaking his head and pushing himself up from the booth. “Just leave me alone.”

Pogue seethed and followed Reid out of the bar and into the parking lot. “We’re going home, Reid! You’re going to explain this!”

“Fuck you!” the blond spat, his steps wobbly on the pavement. His head ached, his body hurt, and there was no chance of outrunning Pogue.

Desperate to make him stop, to have him listen, Pogue grabbed Reid’s arm, pulling him to a stop. The blond groaned in pain and then spun on him, eyes flashing black and hand thrusting forward. Pogue sucked a breath, waiting for that slam of power to throw him back but it never came. Reid’s eyes widened, black fading out of him as pain lanced his features. His mouth opened wide but his breath only hitched in his chest.

And then his eyes rolled and his knees buckled. Pogue caught his fall, pulling his body up into his arms and frowned at the lack of weight. Not waiting for the man to wake, Pogue fished Reid’s keys from his pocket and set him in the backseat of his own car. On the way to the house he called Caleb and by the time he got there the brunet was waiting for them.

Pogue carried Reid up to Caleb’s room. They drew down the covers and laid him out on the sheet. As they carefully stripped him of his shoes, socks, and hoodie, Pogue told his best friend what had happened. Caleb crawled onto the bed, pulling Reid up into a sit and stripped off his shirts. Silently he cursed Reid’s love of layers. He felt his whole body seize as he laid eyes on that torso. He was so much thinner, too much for only a few weeks. And the burns, they went running in red welted rivets over his ribs and back, hand prints on his shoulders and arms, bruised bite marks on his shoulder blades.

With a shudder, Caleb carefully laid Reid back down. He looked so fragile on his bed. It seemed so wrong. All of the times he had had the blond there in the past, he had been so full of life, so vivid and even dangerous. Now he looked like he might break. Caleb’s jaw twitched as he stared at those hand prints and thought about the bite marks on his back. Finally he reached down, carefully working the heavy belt of Reid’s pants open.

“Cay…” Pogue started, his temper barely leashed as he took a step back.

“If you don’t want to know, then leave the room.”

Pogue hesitated, caught between his need to take care of his brother and that voice inside that just wasn’t sure it could handle seeing him like this.

“Get Baby Boy from school,” Caleb said, fingers pausing on the fly of the other man’s jeans. “He has classes late today, but he needs to come home. We need to figure this out.” He wasn’t really sure he wanted Tyler to have to know something like this, especially when they weren’t really sure what was going on, but Pogue needed to leave and needed something to do.

The other man swallowed and even with his back to him, Caleb heard it. He waited until the door closed behind Pogue to finish opening Reid’s pants. He hooked his fingers inside carefully and lifted the man’s hips, pulling the jeans as well as his underwear down his legs- throwing them off the bed. Reid’s legs were in much the same condition as his arms and back, but his hips… his hips were a mess of bruises with more handprints- ones that overlaid each other. Carefully he lay down beside Reid and rolled him gently onto his side. His hand stroked the curve of his ass, softly pulling the cheeks apart just enough to see the smear of old blood painting private skin.

With a miserable sigh he rolled Reid onto his back again, ready to use his magic to wash away those horrible marks when the man suddenly convulsed. The blond sucked a breath of air as though he were being strangled and Caleb could have sworn that he saw waves of heat rolling from the man’s mouth. And then, right before his eyes, he watched a new welt grow, sizzling up as it marred a stretch of skin on Reid’s chest, working its way down toward his navel like the tip of a finger.

Caleb hissed with anger, his eyes flashing black.

Reid felt the fire shiver around him, felt that hand jerk away from his skin. “He can’t save you,” that awful voice promised. “No one can. You deserve this.”

He sat up when he woke, fingers fisting in sheets as he panted for air. He was in Caleb’s room. If his sleep wasn’t occupied by hell these days, he’d think he was dreaming. And then he realized that he as naked, naked and healed- though still hardly looking his best. He shivered and resisted the urge to grab the cover and pull them over himself. He felt Caleb staring at him long before he turned his head to see the man sitting on his knees on the bed beside him.

“You shouldn’t have brought me here,” Reid whispered, trying not to meet those hard eyes.

“This is your home,” Caleb’s voice was stern and if possible, darker than Reid had ever heard it before. “Who is it?”

Reid shuddered. That voice was midnight deep and he almost thought he heard the blade of vengeance on that tongue. “I don’t know.”

“Reid.”

“I don’t,” the blond whispered. He sighed and clawed fingers into his hair. “They’re just dreams.”

Caleb growled, actually growled. “They far from JUST dreams. Look at you.” He shook his head. “How long has this been going on?”

“Three weeks.” Reid stared at the sheets as the silence sunk in. He jumped when Caleb’s hand laid gently against his naked hip, fingers dipping toward the soft skin around his sex. “Three weeks?” Caleb whispered and sounded broken at the thought. The idea made Reid shiver but he still couldn’t look at him. “It wasn’t that bad at first. It was just the fire.”

“The fire?”

Reid nodded. “Everywhere. Burning me. Eventually it became him burning me, whispering…”

Caleb frowned. ‘Him,’ Reid had said. “Who?” Caleb pleaded again, it was a foreign sound to his strong voice.

The blond groaned and pushed at his chest, trying to shove him away. His lack of strength was alarming. Caleb thought of something else awful, his other hand reaching out to stroke light colored hair back, his palm stroking cheek down to rest against the side of the man’s neck. “Reid, why didn’t you Use to get rid of the marks?”

He tensed and then tried to smirk cockily. “Aren’t you usually advocating NOT using?”

Caleb didn’t smile. “Pogue said you tried to Use on him—”

“He had it coming.”

“—but you passed out instead.”

Reid’s expression shifted, suddenly he looked defensive and angry. It was comforting to see something normal about him again. The blond grumbled a curse and the pushed himself off the bed and away from Caleb’s touch. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Maybe he lied.”

“That fire yesterday, did you set it?” Caleb had gotten up, lingering near the bed and watching the naked man pace nervously.

Reid cringed. “Not on purpose. I woke up and the chair… I didn’t mean to.”

Caleb nodded. “I understand.”

That was alarming. Reid had expected more of an argument, more accusations, more anger.

“But why didn’t you put it out?”

Reid flinched, suddenly wishing Caleb had just been angry as usual.

“Maybe I wanted to see it burn!”

“Liar.”

Reid clenched his teeth until his jaw ached. Caleb was the last person he wanted to see him like this, the last person he wanted to talk to right now. “Where’s Po?” he snapped.

Caleb tried not to feel slapped. “He went to get Tyler.”

“Good,” he shot back. “I’ll talk to him when he gets back. Now where are my fuckin’ clothes?” He paced and then started toward the pile of clothing behind Caleb, beside the bed. But Caleb caught his arm before he reached them, pushing him upright and up against the wall. He was careful, but still felt his chest tighten with fear that Reid would be afraid of him. He could bear the thought. Reid had always been so feisty, so headstrong. It was a relief when the naked man strained between his body and the wall but never coward.

“If you want to talk to Pogue instead, that’s fine. As long as you talk to someone,” the brunet spoke softly, his head dipping down to brush their cheeks together, to have his words breath over Reid’s ear. “But you’re not leaving this house.”

Reid licked his lips and it was so good to find them no longer dry and broken. “You’re not my caretaker. I’ll go if I want to—”

“You can’t Use,” Caleb said it so easily, even though it made his insides twist. “And you’re cursed.”

Reid hissed, “Shut up! I can Use if I want to.” He knew it was childish, but he hated hearing Caleb say it, hated the idea of the other man knowing.

A hand pressed his shoulder back to the wall. “Then Use. Push me away.”

Reid growled and for a moment did nothing, and then his right fist swung, cutting across Caleb’s jaw to send him staggering back a step or two. “I don’t need to use to shake you!”

Caleb sighed and rubbed his jaw. “You’re helpless.”

“Fuck you!”

“Reid.”

“I’m not…” He shuddered and leaned back against the wall. “I’m not afraid.” It was a lie, but it made Caleb softer as he approached again.

He reached up and stroked the man’s cheek. “Good,” the eldest replied. “Because I’m going to figure this out.” He leaned his forehead to Reid’s. “And I’m going to kill him.” It was a quiet promise, not something idly said between impassioned lovers, but an oath to a brother.

Reid shivered and nodded stiffly. He felt so tired, and it was finally catching up with him.

Caleb smiled gently and tugged the man from the wall, pushing him toward the bed and his pile of clothing. He could hear Pogue and Tyler coming in the front door. “You’re not leaving this room until we’ve fixed this,” he ordered, wondering vaguely if Reid would turn and punch him again.

The blond made a disgruntled sound as he pulled on his jeans. “Whatever. Don’t come crying to me when I burn your bed.”

“Sleep in the tub then.”

Reid blinked. It the closest he’d ever gotten to an invitation to Caleb’s bathroom. “You said it.” He smirked and abandoned his shirts for a quick path to the adjoining bathroom. Before Caleb could take it back the door had closed.

Inside, Reid found himself staring at his own reflection. He sighed heavily. The burns and bruises were gone, but he could still feel them. And what was worse- Caleb had seen them. Caleb knew, not just what had happened to him, but that he didn’t have enough magic left in him to Use. He felt the weight of it bear down on him. The power was his life, and he could feel it fading away.

 


	6. Ice

Pogue came home, it was late evening and he had spent the afternoon entertaining Reid’s cousin. It had been hard to stay focused, to look interested as he showed the man around the college, all the while knowing that his brother was at home wasting away in Caleb’s room like he had been for the last few days. He had kept up his smile and played pretend, just like Tyler had in the morning. Kyle Garwin seemed like a nice enough kid, but Pogue couldn’t say he had really listened much. It had almost been hard to look at the man, seeing those telltale family resemblances, the attitude, the smirk, it reminded him of the tired body of his brother—of the way he had been only a month before.

He had dropped Kyle off at his hotel, with talk of meeting up for breakfast in the morning. On his drive home he had wondered if Reid would be alive for breakfast tomorrow. He sat in the driveway and swallowed at air to keep from breaking down. It was like the power was being sucked right out of him, and every day now his body was getting weaker, slowly losing its hold on its lifeline.

When he walked inside there was a moment of quiet, a moment where he might have been able to pretend that nothing had changed, and then he heard it. Tyler was shouting upstairs. The youngest had been put on Reid-sitting duty for the afternoon, while Caleb was out scouring their books for answers. “Help me!” Tyler screamed and it sounded utterly broken.

Pogue was standing in Caleb’s room within the flash of eyes. Reid was lying on the floor, body jerking and teeth grit tight. The air around him was shivering with heat and Tyler was on his knees beside him, hands fisted in the man’s shirt and desperately trying to shake him from the dream. “Wake up! Please! Please!”

Reid groaned in pain and cringed against those phantom flames, against phantom hands, his lips suddenly parting to gasp in agony as his body arched off the floor. Pogue sucked a breath, understanding the way his brother’s body bowed off the floor, the way mewling sounds of pain poured off his fire chapped lips. Tyler looked up at him, his face stricken by tears and his eyes black at coal. “It’s not working. He won’t wake up.”

In the past days they had been able to use in order to push away Reid’s nightmares when they came, though the blond had told them not to waste their power. It had been a cruel joke to have him finally worried about using, and have it be for them rather than himself.

Pogue tried to wash the nightmare away as well, but it didn’t take. He hissed and reached down, cupping Reid’s face in his palms. His cheeks were so hot that Pogue’s hands actually ached to pull away. Gritting his teeth he bent down, scooping Reid up into his arms and walked quickly to the bathroom. Another flash of black in his eyes and the tub was full to the brim with ice water.

He set Reid down inside and cringed when the man screamed, writhing to get away from the sudden cold. The blond struggled and Pogue climbed into the tub on top of him, straddling his hips in the ice to hold his waist down to the bottom of the tub. One of his hands held both of Reid’s wrists, pushing his arms under the ice as well. One hand still cradled the man’s cheek, keeping his face above and only inches below his own.

Pogue shivered as he breathed, cold to the bone, while he watched ice melt near Reid’s cheek.

The body struggled under him and it broke his heart to keep the man down, to be the one pinning him. “Wake up.” Pogue shivered, his lips brushing Reid’s, his eyes closing with the small prayer. “Wake up.” What he wanted to say, to beg, was ‘don’t die’. But he couldn’t bear to say it, to let Tyler hear the fear that plagued him.

Reid’s eyes opened finally, his lips parting wide to gasp at the cold. “Fuuck,” he breathed miserably, eyes wide as he stared up at Pogue’s pain stricken face. He forced down his own fear and rage, looking up at his brother and seeing the agony he knew these days had caused them. “Po…”

Pogue opened his eyes slowly to look down at Reid, so grateful that he had come to that he almost forgot the cold.

“You’re freezing my nuts off.” Reid tried for humor, always at the worst of moments. It offered calm to his brothers, knowing that Reid was still Reid, and an out for his own fear.

Pogue forced a smile and sat up, his skin burning from the ice water. “Fall asleep like that again and you’ll be living in here.” He threatened as he got up out of the tub, helping Reid out after him.

 

* * *

 

It was a page that said nothing of fire or curses. Just an old warning. “Be content with one son, have no more. For the blood is strong and only one can have the power.” Caleb remembered this, remembered a time when he was young and his father was still able to speak. He had told him a story of brother’s in the Simm’s family generations back. Of how the younger had tried to steal the power out from under the older.

Caleb shivered a breath at the thought. But Reid had no brothers.

He had gone through more pages, more books, but when he drove home it was that one that still bothered him. They were running out of time, he could feel it, they all could. And when he walked into the living room and saw Tyler sitting there, staring at the photos on the wall, he wondered if his time had run out. Panic lanced his heart at he walked toward the youngest. “Baby Boy—”

“We can’t wake him up anymore,” Tyler spoke but it didn’t seem to be to anyone in particular. “The power isn’t enough to pull him from the nightmares.”

Caleb couldn’t swallow, standing beside Tyler and wondering if he should reach out to him or dash up the stairs. “Ty.”

“He’s alive. Po’s with him upstairs. He won’t sit down, says he won’t fall asleep again until you get back.” A tear rolled down Tyler’s cheek as he stared blankly at the wall. “I think he’s waiting for you before… Before he…”

Caleb hissed to cut off that sentence. He didn’t want to hear it. Gently he stroked Tyler’s cheek, wanting to offer reassurance but having too little to spare. “I’ll send Pogue down. Try to get some sleep,” he whispered before going to the stairs.

Reid was pacing in the bedroom, Pogue sitting nervously off to the side. Caleb pushed the door into a swing and couldn’t help but smile miserably in response to Reid’s smirk when their eyes locked. When Pogue left, Reid stood still, folding his arms over his chest as he watched Caleb close the door. “Hard day?” the blond mocked, knowing that no matter what had happened to Caleb, he could trump it.

“You didn’t need to wait up for me.” Caleb said as he shed his jacket, shoes, and socks.

“I wasn’t tired.”

“Liar.” Caleb smiled as he walked closer. He frowned when Reid took a step back before he could reach him, his back hitting the wall and forcing a small cringe. Carefully, Caleb took that last step to have him pinned, gently lifting Reid’s shirt. The blond sighed and lifted his arms, letting the fabric be pulled off and dropped.

Caleb exhaled, and Reid could have sworn it had been the dark-haired man that was hurt. He gently moved his fingers down Reid’s thin chest, tracing the spaces between the welts, bruises, and burns. His eyes went dark but the wounds wouldn’t be moved this time.

Reid smiled sadly, looking up at his brother. “Seems we’re out of room to run.”

Caleb’s forehead touched his. “Did you see him?” he whispered, hating the thought of this man in Reid’s head, brutalizing Reid’s body.

The blond looked away uneasily. “No.” His voice got quieter. “He’s always behind me.”

Caleb shivered with anger. “Could you recognize his voice? Anything?” It was practically a plea.

Reid hissed and pushed away, Caleb letting him go because he knew if he didn’t move- Reid wouldn’t be able to push him at all. “Nothing. I don’t want to talk about this. Not tonight.”

Caleb frowned, not liking the sound of that. “Why not tonight? What’s tonight?”

“I want to do what I want, spend it the way I want too,” he continued, walking a circle on the carpet that brought him back around to facing Caleb.

“What is tonight?” the eldest ground out, grabbing the blond by the wrist and pulling him forward. Reid glared up at him, eyes stern but faded in color and life. “It’s my last.” Reid knew it wasn’t what he wanted to hear, but he asked.

Caleb shivered and wanted to roar, wanted to yell and kick and scream, but instead he let go of his lover’s arm and yielded. “What do you want to do?” He was already trying to figure out how he was going to stomach taking Reid to a bar, wondering if he’d still be as magnificently devilish as he had been before.

Reid stared at him and then hesitated, actually hesitated. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. It wasn’t like him to be nervous.

“Anything,” Caleb offered.

The blond stepped closer, lifting up on his toes to touch their lips together. Caleb closed his eyes, happy to kiss the man back. His arm curled around Reid’s back, careful of the burns and bruises as he pulled him closer, parting his lips when Reid’s tongue poked into his mouth, coyly exciting his own into play. And then he felt the fingers at his belt buckle, pulling it open with the same expertise Reid had always possessed. Caleb frozen, one hand grabbing Reid’s to stop his advance.

Their kiss parted so that he could stare down at the blond, waiting for words. He knew his blond was a man of action, but every so often, Caleb needed words. After what was happening in Reid’s dreams, and how weak his body was now, he couldn’t be asking for what his body seemed to be begging for now. “Reid?”

The blonde’s lips parted, hesitated, and then spoke in the dark of the room. “I need you,” he whispered and Caleb shuddered. He’d never given those words so easily before, always making him work to get them out of him. “Cay?” It was the closest Reid had ever come to asking for help, to asking for affection.

Carefully but without pause, Caleb kissed his lover, pushing him toward the bed until he fell back onto it. Before following, Caleb stripped off his own shirt and finished what Reid had started on his pants, kicking them away. He stretched out naked over the smaller man, kissing him as he worked his pants off as well. When they were both naked in the dark, he could almost forget how their world had changed, could almost pretend that there weren’t another man’s hands bruised into those hips under his.

It was hard to be so gentle when he was used to being so passionate, especially with Reid. He wanted to ask the blond to tell him to stop if he wanted, if it hurt, but knew that not only would he never admit to something like that- it would also ruin the moment Reid was seeking out in their tangled limbs. Reid’s arms had curled up around the back of his shoulders when he was positioning himself at the smaller man’s entrance, having used his powers to prepare him.

“Cay…” the blond panted in his ear, voice laden with passion. Caleb stilled himself, ready to stop if his brother asked it. Lips brushed his ear, fingers squeezing his shoulders. “Like you love me.”

The whisper tore at Caleb’s heart, but he smiled softly in return. “I always have.” One hand fisted in the top edge of the mattress, trying to ground himself as he surged up into Reid’s body.

In the aftermath of their lovemaking, he held Reid’s sleeping form and breathlessly listened—waiting for some evil to creep into his room and snatch the man from him. It couldn’t have him, Caleb told himself. This wouldn’t be the last night. He wouldn’t lose one of his brother’s, wouldn’t lose his family. Family. His eyes opened in the dark. Not always brother’s by blood, but brother’s nonetheless. Family.

He sat upright and crawled out of bed. He hated to leave Reid but he had to follow the sudden cold that prickled at his spine. Pulling on clothes, he Used to call out to Pogue, waking the other and asking what the hotel room number was for Reid’s cousin.

 


	7. Fire

His eyes flushed black and the door opened. He remembered how only weeks before he would have scolded one of his brothers for using so frivolously. The room was empty. He flicked on the lights but the bed was still made, luggage set off to the side. Kicking the door shut, Caleb turned the room over, searching through everything for a scrap of evidence. At first glance he found nothing. Kyle’s things were all normal, all the sort to be expected from a youth visiting his future college town. And then he turned on the bathroom light. He might not have noticed it at all, but there it was, black in the white of the sink. Caleb walked in slowly, dipping fingers into the sink and bringing them up to rub wet ash between his finger and thumb.

 

* * *

 

Kyle came up the sidewalk, eyes going black to let him walk into the house without being noticed. It was the first time he’d been inside. He appraised the living room, as it would be his future home once Reid was gone. This would be his place, and they would be his brothers. The house was quiet. He had watched Caleb leave in the night, and smiled because it created the perfect moment.

He could feel his weak cousin sleeping upstairs, waiting for him to finish what he started, but he could also feel Pogue there too. He smiled grimly with lips so similar to Reid’s and went upstairs. He paused to glance down the hall toward Caleb’s bedroom and the two men that slept there, but he didn’t walk down it. No, instead he continued on, stopping at another door. With eyes as dark as night he pushed it open and slipped inside, staring down at the sleeping body of the youngest brother. Well, youngest now. Tomorrow Kyle would be the youngest and Reid would be dead.

He watched Tyler sleep for another moment, his lean body stretched out on the mattress, chest bare and pajama pants barely clinging to hips. His face was scrunched in tight misery even in sleep, his sheets kicked to the bottom like his covers. Kyle frowned, he hadn’t wanted them to love Reid so much, hadn’t wanted them to care when he faded- but he told himself that it would be alright, that they would have to love him once he was one of them. Though, some sacrifices would have to be made.

A short knife appeared in his hand as he walked silently to the edge of Tyler’s bed. “Sorry, brother,” Kyle whispered, watching the other slowly begin to wake at the unfamiliar voice. Just as eyes were opening he sprang into movement. His knees hit the mattress beside Tyler, one hand clamping down over mouth as the other buried metal into soft toned flesh.

Tyler woke in agony, sudden and afraid. His eyes burst wide as he felt that hand smashing his lips to his teeth, and something awful tore into his gut. The face was familiar, for a second in the dark he almost thought it was Reid, but Reid could never look so terrible. The knife twisted in his belly and his entire body rocked with pain, arching against the bed and the hand that held, groaning against palm.

He tried to Use to throw Kyle away from him, but power slammed back- ready for his attempt. Fear shuddered through him as he stared up at black eyes. ‘No’. His mind reeled as Kyle let go of his mouth, the blade pulled free of his chest.

Tyler mewled and tasted blood, his body shaking as it bled out onto the mattress.

“Scream for me,” Kyle purred before drawing back a curled fist and punching down on those messy open wounds.

Tyler’s vision blurred and before he could stop himself he was howling in pain, curling up against the unstoppable agony.

 

* * *

 

Reid and Pogue woke suddenly to the cry of their brother as it ripped through their sleeping home.

Pogue had jumped up from the bed, but hesitated when he reached the door. He wasn’t supposed to leave Reid alone, that was the rule Caleb had laid down like law over the past days. Reid was never to be alone. He wasn’t sure if it was so that they could try to chase away his nightmares, or so as to insure that he wouldn’t have to be alone when he died.

“Go!” Reid hissed angrily as he rolled out of bed, glad that it didn’t take more than that to convince Pogue to burst from the room and down the hall, shouting Tyler’s name. Reid had stood and hated how much more effort his body took to function. He walked to the door but it snapped shut before he reached it. Standing in the dark room he went still, breathing slowly as he waited for the trap to spring. He had suspected it as soon as he woke to the flush of panic. But nothing came.

Finally he took those few more steps and opened the door. The knob was hot in his hand and when he swung it wide, light burst forward to swallow the dark, first exploding through the small hallway, growling hungrily as it tried to slip into the room. With a sharp breath he leapt back, slamming the door shut and watching the light glow around the edges. “No…” Was he dreaming?

He took another step back and tensed when a body stepped forward to press a chest to his back. An arm snaked around his middle, fingers digging into old burns. “Burn witch,” the voice whispered in his ear before a tongue slipped out to lick down his throat.

Reid grit his teeth and twisted out of the hold, shoving the body away and staggering back himself. He blinked at his cousin, eyes narrowing at the black of his cousin’s. “What have you done?”

Kyle shrugged out of his jacket, fire burning around the edges of the room now. “I did what I had to.”

Reid shivered, fear crawling up his spine as the fire spilled into the room. He could see the blood on his cousin’s hand. “What did you do to Tyler?”

Kyle smiled as he started taking steps closer. “He’ll be fine but he’s not yours to worry about anymore.” He groaned darkly when he saw his cousin shifting uncomfortably where he stood, stubbornly refusing to take steps away. Even weak, Reid was so arrogant. Kyle stood in front of him, reaching out to stroke his fingers along his cousin’s cheek and neck. “They’re my brothers now. I’ll take care of them, better than you ever could.”

Reid closed his eyes to keep from flinching when that hand touched him. So this was the person that had tormented him for weeks? The one that had stolen his powers and with them his life? The one that had hurt his brother with the idea that he could have them now? His eyes opened and they didn’t need power to blacken them with anger. Even weak, he reached out quickly, grabbing Kyle by the shoulders and kneeing him hard in the crotch. The man howled and doubled over only to get kicked in the side. “You sick little fuck!” Reid shouted, following his cousin to the floor only to straddle him and bring a fist down against his face. “Don’t ever touch them! Don’t go near them!”

Kyle hissed and a burst of power threw Reid off of him, throwing him to the ceiling and then letting him collapse to the floor again, several ribs breaking under his fall, his forehead thumping the floor hard. Kyle crawled on top of him before he could try to get up, straddling his ass and fisting his hand in his hair, lifting his head off of the floor to hiss in his ear. “Stop me.”

 

* * *

 

Pogue rushed into Tyler’s room, sucking a breath as he found the man on his bed, blood dripping from the mattress to the floor. There was so much red welling up from jagged tears in his stomach. His lips were parted wide to gasp at air and his eyes glazed in pain.

“Baby Boy?” Pogue fell to his knees beside the bed, blood soaking into the knees of his sleeping pants. Pained sounds bubbled up from Tyler’s throat and Pogue carefully ‘shh’ed him. One hand stroked through his brother’s hair while the other hovered nervously over his abdomen. His eyes went black and flesh knit back together. Tyler groaned and coughed as the pain washed away, air coming back to his lungs the way it normally would.

Pogue shivered a breath and laid his hand flat on his lover’s stomach, stroking down to push the blood over smooth skin. Relief washed him at the healed flesh but it was a momentary event. “Ty, who did this?” he hissed, pushing back to his feet again.

Tyler spit the blood that was left in his mouth as he rolled out of bed. “Kyle. His eyes.” He swallowed as he stood, legs still a little wobbly but determined as he started for the hall. “He’s the one that’s taking Reid’s power.” He grabbed the doorknob, ignoring the way it burned his palm and swinging it open. Pogue grabbed him by the waist to pull him back as fire swept into the room with a gust of heat, causing them both to stumble back. They tried to Use to snuff out the flames, but the fire wouldn’t be squelched.

“Reid!” Tyler shouted, but the fire swallowed his words.

 

* * *

 

When Caleb came home the house was burning. He vanished from the yard, forgetting that he stood in the open, not caring if anyone saw, and appeared again in his bedroom. The air was hot, burning his lungs when he inhaled but what he saw hurt more. Reid was on the floor on his back, arms dropped at his sides and knuckles bloody from the fight he’d put up. His lips parted, painted red and split in the corner. His temple was bleeding too, gashed open, and from the look of his thin chest, his ribs had been broken- dark bruises already coloring their malformed sides.

And there was Kyle, on his knees to straddle the other, his hands greedily pulling at the top of Reid’s pants. Reid groaned painfully, eyes blinking as he tried to clear the fog of his head, mouth gaping to drag air into lungs. His hands stilled abruptly as he felt Caleb in the room, his fingers uncurling from Reid’s pants to fan over that bruised and scarred belly. He looked up slowly and found a smile. “Brother,” Kyle spoke.

Caleb felt his jaw twitch, his face scrunching with disgust. “Get off of him.”

Kyle didn’t move, his fingers stroking up Reid’s chest and then down again. “I’m almost done,” he promised, hand coming down past Reid’s waist to press his palm against his crotch. The blond beneath him groaned with a snarl, writhing weakly beneath.

A roar tore up from Caleb, his eyes black as he swept Kyle back with a thrust of power, jolting his body up and then slamming him to the wall, ignoring the way he crashed. He knelt beside Reid, pushing blond hair back from a thin bloody cheek. “Reid?” he whispered through gritted teeth.

The blond coughed and nodded, making no attempt to roll against his broken ribs, but forcing his eyes open to look at up at the eldest. “Cay…” he breathed, a thousand words laced into that one familiarity of his name.

Caleb shushed him gently. “I know. I told you I’d take care of it.”

“You’re wasting your time consoling him,” Kyle said, voice pulling at his nerves. The man was standing again, his eyes as black as Caleb’s and his lips curled with a smirk that reminded of Reid’s. Close, but not the same. “He’ll burn in this house.” He took a step closer. “But it’s okay, we can build another, the same if you want.”

Caleb shivered as he rose to his feet, turning toward the mad man and stepping over Reid so as to be between them. Tyler and Pogue appeared in the room, the both smeared in someone’s blood. The walls were burning but they couldn’t leave, couldn’t put the fire out and couldn’t leave the man on the floor behind. Tyler knelt beside Reid, holding his hand and glaring past Caleb at the other, Pogue towering over his back.

“I’ll be a better brother than he was,” Kyle continued, swaying his hips as he got closer. He gave the other two a smile but turned his attention finally up to the leader he at last stood before. “I won’t Use when you don’t want me to. I’ll go to my classes, I’ll be upstanding.” He smiled brightly, licking his lips and reaching up to stroke his hand down Caleb’s chest. “I’ll do whatever you want, be however you want. I won’t argue, won’t gamble, won’t lie. I’ll be the perfect brother.” He leaned up, his mouth so close to Caleb’s now that he could feel his breath on his lips.

Tyler hissed as he watched Caleb’s hand come up to rest on the vicious man’s hip, pulling Kyle closer. “Caleb!” he snapped as he shot to his feet, eyes going black and lips curling to snarl.

“Shut up, Baby Boy,” Caleb purred, dark eyes locked with Kyle’s.

Tyler growled, ready to launch himself across the room, but a hand grabbed his shoulder. He glared back at Pogue, but the look that greeted him told him there would be no advancing.

“You understand?” Kyle whispered, lips brushing over Caleb’s in a soft kiss.

Caleb smiled darkly in returned. “I understand. You’re everything he’s not.” He kissed back, pulling the man hard against his body and shoving his tongue into that treacherous mouth. One hand reached down, grabbing a thigh and pulling until he had Kyle up in his arms, legs wrapped around his waist. The man was in bliss, his whole scheme finally coming together the way he’d always dreamed. Caleb turned them toward the bed, walking across the small stretch of room. It only took a few steps with those long legs, carrying that lithe body.

But instead of turning toward the mattress he slammed Kyle’s back into the fire soaked wall. The man gasped, thrust up against his own cursed flames. His eyes burst open, trying to Use to push the eldest back. A cruel smile pulled at Caleb’s lips as he grabbed the man’s arms, pinning them to the melting wood. His fingers ached but it wasn’t his skin that began to boil. Kyle began to scream, his body writhing against the restraint of Caleb’s, shock and horror spreading across his face as his hair fried.

He obviously didn’t expect Caleb’s power to trump his newly stolen ones, had he not heard about Chase? Caleb held him as he burned, feeling the wrists beneath his palms wither, the jeans that clad the hips his pinned burned away followed by flesh. He could have closed his eyes, could have tried letting go, but he didn’t. He held that gaze until the eyes burned from sockets and when the body he held was finally consumed, he stepped back. His palms and hands were red from the heat, but the fire hadn’t dared to sing him—though it continued to eat freely at the house.

He turned around, ignoring the horror that spread across Tyler’s features and the grimly downcast gaze of his closest friend. “Get out of here,” Caleb ordered. “It’s too late to put out the fire.” They could all hear the fire trucks as they neared.

He knelt beside Reid as the other two vanished, the floors creaking and pieces of wood and peeled paint falling from the ceiling. He was unconscious but already he looked healthier, the burns were gone and with a thought Caleb had fixed distorted ribs and bleeding lips. Grabbing the man’s shoulder they too disappeared, leaving the house to cave in.

 


	8. Hotel Sheets

He woke slowly to the hum of an air conditioner unit and the faint sound of voices through hotel walls. The sheets were crisp but foreign and cheap like the air. Reid rolled onto his back, letting the covers fall down to his waist as he stretched and then relaxed again into the bed. His body felt right again, felt whole, but there was a hum of memory that stained everything.

The bathroom door opened and he lifted his head from the pillow enough to see the spill of light across muted wallpaper and blue carpet. Tyler was still rubbing pale fingers against the blades of his wet hair, as though he could easily shake them dry. His torso was long, and looked even more so with the line of his pajama pants cutting across his lower abdomen before legs of fabric fell with straight excess down to the floor.

Reid dropped his head back to the pillow to stare at the ceiling. The smell of the air changed, heavier with the released steam of the bathroom and the scent of soap and body that moved closer and closer to the bed. “You slept for almost 48 hours.” Tyler’s voice was soft like a whisper, but it held a hint of authority that Reid didn’t like. It made the other man feel suddenly like the weaker of them.

“And?”

Tyler stopped, knee touching the mattress but the blond still wouldn’t look back at him. “You look much better.”

Reid found that it was easier than he thought to pull up a lecherous grin. “You don’t look bad yourself.”

The youngest sighed and crawled onto the bed. He huffed when his friend still wouldn’t look at him and crawled up on top of him, straddling his hips and leaning over so that Reid had no choice but to meet his gaze. “Are you alright?”

The smile stayed but grew and somehow Tyler thought it looked even more distant. Reid bucked his hips under the youngest, feeling the electric jolt of their crotches rubbing even with sheets and pajamas between. It was the first time that Reid realized he wasn’t wearing anything beneath the covers. “Don’t I feel alright?”

Tyler shivered, his fingers flexing involuntarily against the pillows beside Reid’s head. “The house burnt down. They’re out right now talking to a realtor.” It had always been Baby Boy’s habit to babble when he needed time to make decisions. “They’re staying in the room next to ours.”

“Ours?” Reid almost purred now, hips still wiggling under his brother’s with unforgettable expertise.

Tyler’s eyes fluttered as he sucked on his lower lip. His head nudged a little to the side and Reid rolled his own to see the other bed. When he turned his head Tyler took the opportunity, delving his mouth into the column of skin that twitched beneath his lips and tongue. He had always loved Reid’s throat, always wanted to kiss and bite at it. Some part of his brain screamed that this wasn’t the time, that he had wanted to talk to his friend and make sure he was really okay, but the offer of physical comfort, of being able to taste and feel Reid’s life beneath him was too much to bear.

Things escalated quickly, faster than even Reid had expected. Tyler had kicked the covers down, the cool air making Reid’s skin suddenly tight as well as bare. Fingers trailed his sides, down over hips and onto thighs. It was surprise that had him still while the youngest made his way down his body, and the pleasure of his mouth on his sex that kept Reid from noticing the hands that spread his thighs. He didn’t care what position Tyler liked for blowjobs as long as that tongue kept moving and-

Everything turned to anger when he felt a finger probing the cleft of his ass. Power rushed forward from Reid so fast that his vision swam. With a hiss through clenched teeth the youngest was thrown back, landing on the low dresser with his back to the wall before he could even swallow the pool of saliva and precum in his mouth. Tyler blinked, surprised then terrified, as Reid suddenly stood in front of him, eyes washed black and body honed to fierce perfection. A flash of fire in those eyes and suddenly Tyler’s body moved, pulled off the dresser, turned, and then slammed to it again. His forehead hit the wall, his hips ground into the edge of the wood furniture, as Reid’s body formed to his back, holding him in place with arms over his head. It only took one of Reid’s to hold both of Tyler’s wrists high.

“Reid—” Tyler breathed in a shiver.

“So you pop that cherry of yours and you think you can top me?” Reid hissed in his ear.

“No, I just…” Tyler was stuttering now, stumbling over his words.

“What?” the blond snarled before sucking a breath of contempt. “You thought because I took it from Cay?” His voice darkened, lowered. “Or is it because of Kyle?” He felt Tyler gasp, could practically feel the man’s mind spinning for words. “Is that it?” Reid almost shouted.

He didn’t hear the door open or close, but a power to trump his own washed over them, making his eyes flutter and his breath shiver out past his lips. “Reid,” that ever strong voice demanded. The blond squeezed Tyler’s wrists harder, as though they would purge another word from the other man’s throat, and they didn’t.

“Back off, Reid,” Caleb ordered.

The blond smiled and let go of his best friend, raising his arms like a criminal as he turned. Naked hips swayed, body stretched long, as he turned to face Caleb. Pogue had moved fast to snatch Tyler away, as though he were some sad victim in the room, and pushed him through their adjoining door and into the other bedroom. “Take a shower,” Caleb breathed and suddenly looked away. “Baby Boy and I will go get some food.”

Reid felt his smile fall away as he watched the other man turn his back on him. His chest ached as his arms sunk back to his sides, the door closing between their rooms and leaving him cold.

“Reid?” Pogue said carefully, standing somewhere between him and the door to follow the others.

Reid tried to gather his anger again, tried to fill the damage left by his own behavior with something other than regret. “What?” he snapped but it lacked the bite they all knew his words could hold. “You want to defend your boy?” He turned toward Pogue and spread his arms invitingly, turning his cheek up to show off that jaw of his. “Take your shot, Po.”

The other frowned. Was that what Reid wanted? Punishment? He closed the gap between them in a few long strides, holding those cold eyes the whole way.

“You going to protect your lover or not?” the younger blond spat.

“Always,” Pogue said without hesitation and reached out, not missing how those muscles in Reid’s jaw and neck tensed. Had he really thought he’d hit him? His fingers slid around the back of Reid’s head instead, into those smooth strands of hair to cup his skull and pull him through the small gap that remained between them. As soon as Reid’s chest hit Pogue’s, those strong arms wrapped around the younger blond. “I’ll always protect him just like I’ll always protect you.”

Reid struggled deftly against the hug but Pogue didn’t let go. It reminded him of when they were kids. Pogue had never been afraid to show affection for his brothers, even in front of others. Reid had been embarrassed back then when they were on school yards but still hadn’t had the heart to really push his brother away. It was somehow always innocent because Po was always honest. “Do you think he’s mad?”

Pogue laughed and shrugged. “Probably.

 

* * *

 

They sat in the car drowning in silence. Nothing had passed between them on their way to the store, while shopping, while paying, or on the half drive return. “Say it,” Caleb finally broke the emptiness.

Tyler tensed in the seat beside him as though he could get any tighter wound. “What?”

Caleb kept his eyes on the road even as they came to a stop at an intersection. “Say it, Baby Boy.”

Tyler’s teeth clicked angrily. “It’s your fault,” he seethed, glaring at the dashboard. “It went too far. What happened to him. What you said before…” His jaw clenched and something dark played in once clear eyes. “You killed Kyle.”

Caleb nodded but didn’t look away from the street. “I did and I would again.”

“It went too far. The house should never have burned. Reid should never have been that close to…to—”

“Dying,” Caleb finished.

Tyler’s breath shivered past his lips. He knew it wasn’t really Caleb’s fault. He was the eldest and the strongest, but he couldn’t solve everything. “Why did he look at me like that?” the youngest finally whispered.

He pulled into the parking lot of the hotel and sighed, finally looking at his brother. They had never been the closest pair in the group, the furthest from it actually, but they were family all the same. Caleb reached out that small distance between driver and passenger to cup the back of the other man’s neck, rubbing it affectionately. “Give it a little time. He’s Reid. He’ll bounce back,” he said the words and even managed a small reassuring smile until he could see it reflected in Tyler’s eyes. They got out of the car and he just wished he could convince himself as easily as he could the youngest.

 


	9. Doors

Weeks passed and soon enough they were moving into a new house. Things were back to normal. Or at least that was how it looked. Reid laughed and made jokes the way he always had but something was different. It took Caleb days to really put his finger on it but once he had it was all he could see. Reid was studying. He was spending most of his time at home. He wasn’t using, wasn’t sleeping much, and wasn’t touching anyone.

The more he noticed the more grimly impressed he felt. Reid would come close, stand near his brothers, but never quite make contact. And he never quite looked at Caleb either. Caleb had decided to be patient. To wait and give Reid whatever time he needed.

The doorbell rang and Caleb crossed the living room where Pogue and Reid were playing video games. “Did you order a pizza?” he asked casually as he rounded the corner into the front hall. Neither of the men replied, which meant nothing in the way of a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ but rather a ‘busy’. He opened the door and found himself staring at a familiar but unexpected face. Nicole Garwin walked forward and he found himself stepping back until she was standing inside. Her hair was bound back but not as tidy as usual and her eyes were puffy and red from crying, her jaw set tight and her fists balled at her sides.

“You killed my son,” she hissed low and for a moment Caleb couldn’t fathom words. Somehow he hadn’t thought about this angle, hadn’t even considered her loss.

“I had to,” he whispered in reply, suddenly realizing that he didn’t want her in their house or anywhere near Reid. “You should leave.”

“You’re not even going to apologize?” she snapped louder this time. “They’re saying it was a tragic accident. That he was in the house when it burned down. But I know. You killed him like you killed that other boy.”

Caleb cringed but forced himself to take a step forward in hopes that she would take one back, but it only brought him closer to her. Her hand swung and he didn’t try to evade or stop it. Her palm smacked across his cheek but his head didn’t turn, his eyes still locked with hers.

At some point the hectic sounds of the video games had stopped. Reid stepped into the hall just in time to see his sister slap Caleb. With a pained sigh he grabbed his brother by the arm and tugged him back. “Get out Nicole,” Reid said quietly but sternly.

She seethed when she saw him. “He was so smart, Reid. He was my boy.” Tears welled in her eyes. “He was just jealous. It wasn’t fair that you got everything and the rest of us got nothing.”

Nothing. Nothing but the money and comfort generations of their bloodline had accumulated. Reid’s eyes narrowed on her. “You knew what he was doing?”

She almost stumbled over her own anger but held fast. “He just wanted some of the power too. That’s all.”

“Some?” Reid almost shouted. It was the first time they’d heard him raise his voice since he woke up three weeks ago. “He wanted all of it, Nicole. He almost killed me. He—” He bit into his lip to keep from saying more.

“You never deserved it anyway!” she screamed back. “You should have let him have it! Think of the things he could have done. He was your family!”

Reid’s teeth clicked angrily before his temper finally snapped. “Family?” A cruel smile spread his features. “You think you’re worthy of being my family?” He sounded as arrogant and cocky as he always had but for the first time she saw how much it really fit him. He wasn’t a child boasting of things he didn’t posses. He was a prince pointing out a harsh truth. “You’re blood, Nicole. Blood that I’ll drain if I ever have to see you again.” He watched her pale at his promise and took a step closer. She backed up until she stood outside the door. “I have a family. I’ll kill and I’ll die to protect them.” He grabbed the door and gave her one last assessing look. “If you say anything else about this to anyone, I’ll burn you like your son.”

The door closed firmly and he felt the weight of his brother’s eyes on his back. With a sigh he turned away from the entrance and went to the stairs. He was walking into his room when Caleb caught up, pushing the door to keep it open but not following in. Reid didn’t look back, walking into the room instead and dropping himself onto his bed. “What?”

Caleb hesitated for a second and then finally walked in, leaving the door open. A part of him still worried that the other might feel trapped otherwise. He crossed the room and knelt on the bed. Reid tensed but Caleb didn’t stop, leaning down and cupping one side of the other man’s face with his hand just before their lips met. What started off as a soft kiss, careful and chaste, slowly became more. Caleb’s lips parted to stroke his tongue against the seam of Reid’s. He groaned in relief when Reid finally opened. It felt like forever since he’d last tasted him, last felt that tongue against his, last let his fingers creep up the bottom of Reid’s shirt to fan fingers against his abdomen.

Until that second he hadn’t realized how much he’d needed the younger blond as a lover. He’d thought that their times together had been about giving Reid an outlet. But over the weeks he’d been the one that felt pent up. When he pulled back enough to let them both breathe, his breath shivered out against Reid’s lips and he saw glazed passion in the blonde’s eyes as well as a question. “I missed you,” Caleb whispered, his voice dark but honest.

Reid shuddered lightly as the other man’s fingers stroked up his side beneath his shirt. Careful eyes watched his expression, waiting for some sign of rejection. When it didn’t come, he leaned back down again, taking another deep kiss. Between lips and quickening breaths, shirts were shed. It was when Caleb pulled Reid’s jeans open that the other man tensed beneath him and his hands stilled, fingers hooked into the front of pants so that the backs of his fingers rubbed into the soft stretch of skin above sex. “Tell me to stop,” Caleb spoke, his voice husky and low. “and I will,” he promised.

Reid knew it was true and some part of him wanted to say it, to ask him to go before this went too far. But his jaw clenched tight like his lips as he laid there on the bed, staring up at the other. Caleb held his gaze as he pulled jeans and underwear down hips and ass, lifting thighs and legs to strip the clothing away and leave his Reid lying naked and sprawled on the bed in front of him. He couldn’t help but moan, his own sex straining against the inside of his slacks. There were no more bruises or scars, no more bones pressing out against thin flesh. Reid was a lean body of pale skin stretched over tight muscles.

Even now there was no faking modesty or shame. Reid was beautiful and he’d always known it. Sitting on his knees between the blonde’s spread legs he watched the other shudder as he grabbed his sex, stroking it until it was hard beneath his fingers and his lover was rocking his hips lightly into the beat of his hand. Caleb felt his chest ease a little at the sight, his body leaning forward until his lips could part and his tongue could stroke across the head of Reid’s dick. He felt the blond jolt with surprise and before he could really wrap his lips around that cock, he was shoved off by a slap of power. His own countered and he never quite hit the wall at the foot of the bed.

He snarled angrily despite himself as Reid sat up on the bed, naked and suddenly flaccid again. “Get out,” the blond snapped.

“What?” Caleb took a step closer, not caring how dark the other’s eyes turned in threatening reply. A part of him wanted to go and not push the other, and yet his feet stayed planted where they were, his knees touching the foot of Reid’s bed. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“I don’t want your pity or your soft fuck,” Reid spat. “You think I don’t know what you’re doing?”

Caleb felt like the room was swaying. What had happened? What was he talking about?

“You don’t give blow jobs, Cay!” Reid shouted. “Not like that.” He shook his head, something bitter distorting his features. “You blew Baby Boy like that, didn’t you? When you didn’t want him to be afraid of you?” He frowned and Caleb saw the accusation of betrayal burning in his eyes. “You think I’m afraid of you?” Reid whispered and the question was a threat of its own.

“No.” He swallowed and felt his whole body tense under the scrutiny of his brother’s eyes.

Reid hissed and rolled out of the bed, standing and gesturing toward the door. “Get out, man.” His voice softened but his features didn’t, his glare turned to the wall as though looking at him was its own pain now. “I’d rather be a fucking nun in this house than someone’s pity fuck.” He had intended to wait until Caleb left, slam the door, find his clothes, and then brood but it seemed as soon as the words found their way out of his mouth his body was tackled to the floor. He struggled naturally but hands pinned his arms above his head, the weight of a larger body pressing his hard to the carpet.

Caleb mashed their lips into a kiss that was more teeth than lips and Reid was sure he tasted blood. His pulse throbbed in his ears as he felt Caleb’s hard on rubbing through jeans into his naked thigh. “You drive me crazy,” the eldest hissed into his neck before teeth grazed skin their too. “You never listen. You always assume shit. You’re completely unreasonable.”

Reid shivered beneath him, body straining against the restraining grip of his lover’s even though he knew he couldn’t escape and didn’t really want to. “You should work on your pick up lines, Cay…”

Hands tightened on his wrists. “I’ve never pitied you, Reid. Never.” His hips ground into the blonde’s. “Sometimes I think I hate you but I always know I love you.” Reid closed his eyes and swallowed hard, breathing hitching as his hips rubbed up into Caleb’s. The eldest grabbed him by his sides and rolled them so that his back was to the floor and the naked man was sitting on top of him, hands suddenly released. “If you don’t want me, that’s fine,” Caleb whispered, those dark eyes of his staring up at Reid. “But don’t pretend it’s me that doesn’t want you.” His hips rolled up so that Reid felt just how painfully tight his jeans had become.

The blond shivered on top of him, fingers crawling down as if on instinct to tug his pants open and push them down his hips only enough to free his thick cock. He watched Caleb’s eyes flutter and roll back as he stroked him. The eldest groaned and rubbed his head back against the floor. “Come on, Reid… stop teasing me.”

Through heavy lids he saw Caleb’s eyes flash black and gasped as he felt ghost fingers stretching his ass and lube dripping from his pucker. His breath heaved as he moaned and felt his already hard cock twitch. “F-fuck,” he breathed, lifting himself and shifting forward until he could push Caleb’s dick against his ass, slowly sitting down. He rocked his hips as he took him in, lips parting wide to gasp as he found himself filled for the first time in weeks.

“Ride,” Caleb urged through clenched teeth, his hips bumping up against him and his hands squeezing Reid’s thighs. It wasn’t like Caleb to be on the bottom, to not have the control. “P-please,” he groaned.

Shaking, Reid lifted himself until Caleb’s dick almost fell out and then sunk back down again, slowly fucking himself until he built a faster and faster rhythm. Caleb’s hand came between them to pump Reid’s weeping sex, making the other ride even harder to get his own sex more attention.

“Come on,” Caleb groaned. “I know you like it harder than that.” He bit his lower lip when Reid moved his hips in rougher, deeper, jerks.

Soon their sounds were melding into one another, building up high and faster.

Pogue swallowed hard from where he’d been standing in the hall, his back leaned to the wall beside Reid’s open bedroom door. Their sounds were vivid in the hall, passionate and frantic. He’d opened his pants and was jerking himself off. He wished he could see them and would have used to watch through the walls if he weren’t positive that Caleb would sense it. Any other time and he probably would have anyway, knowing that his brother wouldn’t mind if he watched, but he wasn’t willing to risk it today and ruin a moment they’d been waiting for three weeks. He bit his lip hard when he heard Reid crying out in climax and then the sound of Caleb holding onto the man’s hips, moving him roughly on top of himself, slapping their skin together until he hit his own orgasm.

Pogue’s knees buckled as he came in his hand, body sinking down the length of the wall until he sat in the hall, panting in time with them.


	10. Thunder

Caleb walked in, groceries in one arm while his other hand pushed his keys into his pocket. Pogue was standing off to the side of the living room, leaning against the wall that held the kitchen door. “You know, I don’t care if it’s been half a year, I’m not going to get used to that garage. We should have it remodeled or something. It’s—” His words trailed off as he reached his best friend and realized with mild agitation that the other man wasn’t even looking at him let alone listening to him.

When he turned his head to see what held his friends attention so completely, the bag of groceries fell from his arm to the floor. He didn’t even bother to look down at the mess, simply stepping over it in order to stand shoulder to shoulder with Pogue and stare into the living room.

Game controllers were abandoned on the floor in front of the television, whatever game that still blinked ‘pause’ on the screen couldn’t have been more forgotten. Tyler was on his hands and knees on the carpet, stark naked. His brown hair swayed with every forward rock of his body, his head almost colliding with the cushions of the sofa. His lips parted to pant, his breath hitching every time his body was shoved forward. Reid was behind him, just as naked, but on his knees with his hips pressed into the other man’s ass. His hands held tight to Tyler’s sides, pulling him back to meet his thrusts. His teeth were clenched and bared and they were both coated in a sheen of sweat.

Caleb couldn’t even think of the right question, so Pogue offered an answer. “They wanted to make bets again. They lost.”

Caleb raised a curious eyebrow, but didn’t look away from the scene. “Are you sure? It doesn’t look like they lost.” His voice was deeper than it had been a second ago, and the room was suddenly much warmer. With a shrug he’d dropped his coat with the groceries. Even without looking he could feel Pogue smiling.

“Reid’s not allowed to cum until I do.”

“How long has it been?”

“Not sure. Haven’t looked away. But Tyler’s blown his load twice already.” He smiled wider. “You should go have a seat, Cay.”

The man shivered but found himself crossing the room with little thought. The tension in Reid’s face flickered to amusement for a moment as he reached over Tyler’s back to take a fistful of hair, pulling the man’s head up so that Caleb could sit on the couch. With an extra thrust of his hips, Reid shoved their joined bodies forward, forcing Tyler to lift his arms and grab onto Caleb’s spread thighs, his face now right against the other’s jean clad crotch.

Tyler shuddered out a breath as Reid continued to move behind him, his head turning up to see Caleb reclining against the couch, watching him with that unfailing calm. He didn’t demand or ask, he just waited, and damn if Tyler didn’t find himself tugging those jeans open.

Pogue moaned loudly from the side as he stepped closer, shedding his shirt and working his own pants open as he watched Tyler suck Caleb’s hard sex into his mouth. Every thrust Reid gave sent the younger man’s head rocking over the eldest’s cock.

Reid practically lost it when he saw Pogue finally stripping down. His fingers dug harder into Tyler’s hips, his body shivering as the older man knelt behind him, his bare chest touching Reid’s shoulders. Pogue’s arousal pressed against the small of Reid’s back, heavy and thick. “Ask me?” Pogue smirked, knowing well that Reid would only beg for Caleb, but also knowing that Reid thought it was a secret.

The smaller blond blushed hot, eyes widening to glare at Caleb but the eldest was lost in the comfort of Tyler’s mouth. “Fuck you,” Reid spat over his shoulder.

Pogue laughed, rubbing his forehead into the side of Reid’s neck. “I think we’re going to do it the other way tonight, Sweetheart.” He wondered if Reid blushed at that as well. No one else called the sharp-tongued Garwin ‘sweetheart’ but Pogue. He didn’t have time to check, he’d already grabbed and lifted Reid’s hips, careful not to break his connection with Tyler, and slowly began pushing his sex into Reid’s ass.

Pogue moaned deeply when he was finally buried inside the other blond and the guttural sound echoed through the chain of bodies in front of him. He thrust and watched as his hips shoved Reid’s into Tyler’s ass, launching Tyler forward until he found himself deep throating Caleb. The pleasure of it made his eyes want to close, want to press shut and savor the feeling, but he couldn’t bear not to look, not to watch them all lost together. It had taken all of the restraint he had just to wait until Cay came home.

It seemed the faster he moved, the more frantic the ones in front of him became. Their sounds grew, in the slaps of skin and the moans of wet lips with heavy passion. He built their pace until he could feel all of them straining to hold on and when Pogue finally came it set off a chain reaction that had all of them crying out and arching in the crest of pleasure. He tried to keep his focus as long as possible, wanting to remember this moment like all of their others.

 

* * *

 

Reid sulked as he walked out of class with a slightly exaggerated limp to his step. Pogue laughed as he came up beside him, draping an arm over his brothers shoulders as they left the main building into the busy quad. “You’re flattering me.”

Reid tried not to smirk. “Shut up.”

The taller man smiled victoriously. “You’re going to your next class, right?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Reid mumbled.

“Then I’ll see you in the parking lot after. Give the boys a call, we can meet up for some beers before heading home.” Pogue’s arm unraveled from Reid’s shoulders when they reached the point where the smaller man veered off toward another building. “Try not to gimp on the way!” Po shouted pointedly. “Wouldn’t want anyone to know you’ve been taking it up the ass!”

Reid flushed at the number of eyes that turned his way but kept enough sense about himself to smile and flip off the other man before slipping into a larger stream of students on their way to class. He was almost to the doors when he heard it, everyone heard it, like a clap of thunder too sudden and shrill to be natural. People far behind screamed, bodies turned like his to look back. Students were running from the quad, running and screaming while others stayed crouched low to the ground.

Before he could think, he had moved, pushing his way through the confused mass and toward the patch of concrete between buildings. He was shouting, practically howling, one name. Even in those split seconds, the lack of response was torture. When he finally burst out of the crowd and into the open space, Reid felt his heart sink deep until his stomach churned and threatened to heave. A body lay on the pale pavement, hair tousled and stained red, motionless as that red seeped out to pool on the ground around his head.

“Pogue!” Reid shouted, it sounded angry, like a demand rather than a plea, but the man on the ground didn’t move, didn’t reply. He found himself running across that short distance. He couldn’t see his face, couldn’t tell if his chest was moving. There was so much blood and it looked like it was all coming from the side of Pogue’s head. Just as Reid dropped to his knees beside his brother another clap of thunder rang out. His lips parted wide, the air knocked form his lungs. He looked forward and up to the roof of a nearby building and saw the glint of sunlight dancing on the scope of a riffle. He saw a man smiling back at him, and then he felt the pain burst through his body, throwing him back onto the pavement.

His lips moved but couldn’t suck air. There was more screaming and the sound of sirens. There was blood in his mouth, gurgling up from inside. His vision blurred, eager to fade and drop him into unconsciousness. Gritting red wet teeth, Reid let his eyes soak in black and washed his body in power. Rolling onto his side he spit blood, his hand coming up to rub the red from his neck. He’d been shot in the throat. So many eyes were watching now. He left a good sized gash on the side of his neck, it would have to be convincing enough. He rolled onto his stomach and crawled over Pogue’s side, rolling the other man onto his back.

His breath caught again, still raw and tasting of iron. There was a hole in his temple. And his eyes… His eyes were open but no soul peered out. Reid’s hand slid up over Pogue’s chest, palm pressing against muscle and waiting, waiting for that quiet sound that never came. No breath. No pulse. His eyes turned black and power slammed into Pogue’s chest. Waiting. Nothing. Again, more power, sweeping air around them like wind. People might see. What could it look like? No sound echoed in Pogue’s chest, his eyes still empty. Reid clenched his teeth and poured more power in, it felt like he was trying to fill and endless well, pouring more and more inside only to have it swallowed by a cold nothing.

He didn’t pull back this time, couldn’t dare, he just kept throwing more and more power inside, desperate to bring that fire back. Reid’s skin began to tingle, his vision blurring as his breath shallowed.  Was that death sucking him in? His fingers curled in the front of Pogue’s shirt, hanging on even as his body slowly collapsed on top of the others. Reid’s breath hitched, black eyes still wide even as his face paled and cheeks sunk. The gash on his neck grew, ripping wider as the power he’d used to minimize it pulled away, pouring into Pogue’s body instead. Flesh healed on Pogue’s temple, skull fragments recollecting, brain tissue reforming, but it was the heart Reid listened for even as he began to lose consciousness.


	11. Curtains

Reid woke suddenly, sitting upright in an overly white room. Sound hit him hard. Dozens of voices, some crying and some shouting, others soothing while a few maintained calm regularity. The bed beneath him creaked. His clothes were still bloody but his neck was patched. Swallowing hard, he rolled his legs off of the side of the bed, holding tight to the edge as his vision swayed.

The curtain that separated him from the rest of the emergency room beds pulled open almost violently and he looked up in time to see a mix of horror and relief wash over Tyler’s features. The youngest rushed forward, his hand curling in the back of Reid’s hair to pull his head to his chest, hugging him even as he still sat on the bed. “They said you were shot in the neck. You were dead when they found you,” Tyler was practically babbling, his words melding together in a panicked rush. “They said they resuscitated you in the ambulance.”

Reid sighed and for a moment let his head rest against his brother’s chest. “It’s alright,” he said it just as he remembered it wasn’t. His fingers curled in the side of Tyler’s shirt as he looked up. “Where’s Po?”

Tyler hesitated, his hand still on Reid’s shoulder and suddenly the blond wondered if it was meant to keep him seated. “He’s in a room upstairs. They’re still running tests.”

Reid exhaled in slight relief. He was alive. “What tests?”

Again the youngest hesitated, choosing his words. “Caleb’s with him now.”

Reid scrubbed a hand over his face. “Which room?”

“I think you should take it easy and—”

“Don’t make me Use again today, Baby Boy.” It was a hollow threat. He wasn’t even sure he had enough energy for it. Despite his behavior in high school, he had no interest in draining his body before his brothers, especially not after what happened with Kyle. But if Using was the only way to keep them alive and safe, Reid would ruin himself without a second though.

Tyler sighed heavily. “It’s just down the hall. 121.”

Holding his brother’s arm, Reid pulled himself up off the bed and started down the hall. Tyler followed closely, nervously. They stopped in the open doorway. Pogue was sleeping in the hospital bed, hooked up to machines that beeped steadily and flashed with lights and numbers. Caleb was standing beside the bed, looking as dark and sullen as ever and yet somehow his expression only darkened when he turned and saw Reid standing there.

He crossed the room quietly, a hand on Reid’ s arm carefully ushering him out into the hall once more before closing the door. Caleb frowned deeply as he looked at the blood that covered Reid’s shirt and stuck to his skin, his eyes finally settling on the bandages taped to his neck. “You should be lying down.” He looked at Tyler. “I told you to keep him where he was.”

“I’m not a fucking baby,” Reid snapped, turning his attention toward the glass windows that now parted them from Pogue. “What’s wrong with him?”

Caleb took a deep breath and ran fingers through his hair, tugging at it lightly. “They said he must have hit his head when he fell.”

Reid stared through the glass almost blindly now. He hadn’t healed him completely? He’d been so focused on the heartbeat, on making him breathe again. “He was shot.”

Caleb shook his head. “There was a shooter. You were shot when you came back for Po.”

“No,” Reid sighed and closed his eyes. “I mean, yes, I came back for Po, but he had been shot in the head.” He felt the stillness of his brother’s beside him and looked up at Caleb. “He was dead. I was shot in the throat.” Caleb looked at the blood on his shirt with new horror. “I healed it well enough, but Po… he wasn’t breathing.” He looked at the glass again. “His eyes were open,” he muttered.

“You saved him?” Caleb whispered.

Reid sighed. “I guess. I kept pouring power into him until I couldn’t anymore.”

Caleb swore and it was harsh and quiet. “That’s why you went into shock? You died!” he snapped louder than Caleb would normally in public, causing more than a few others down the hall to look.

“We felt you Using from across town,” Tyler muttered in addition.

“What do you want me to say?” Reid hissed up at his brother. “You wouldn’t have done the same?”

Caleb pressed his eyes shut and took a quiet breath before nodding his silent understanding. “We have a new problem.”

“Aside from the shooter?” Tyler mumbled.

“They had to get his name from his wallet. There’s nothing physically wrong with him but…”

“But what?” Reid asked uneasily.

“He doesn’t remember.”

Reid paused, staring at Caleb. “Being shot?”

“Anything.”

“Anything?” Reid asked automatically before it sank in. “No.” He reached for the doorknob.

Caleb grabbed his wrist to stop him. “I already tried Using to make it right again. It didn’t work.”

Reid looked through the window again. “He doesn’t remember us?” It was a whisper of disbelief.

“He asked about you. He saw you when the ambulance came. But no, he doesn’t remember us,” Caleb sighed and looked down the hall toward the nurse’s desk. “We’re not going to tell his family,” he said firmly and the other two nodded automatically.  “I don’t want more people here right now. The doctors are going to run a few more tests and in the morning they’ll release Pogue. We’ll take him home. I’ll call his mother then.”

“What if he doesn’t want to go with us?” Tyler whispered.

“I’ve talked to him some. It’ll be okay. He’ll remember.” The optimistic words fell from a skeptical but desperate man. “We’ll be okay.”


	12. Chipmunk

 Pogue closed his cellphone, ending a call that had already been ended for him. The woman had called. She was his mother, or so he’d been told, but she didn’t sound familiar and listening to her giggle from a cabana across the globe made him more than just a little uncomfortable. Uncomfortable had become a good word to describe his life.

He was living in a house he didn’t remember with guys he didn’t know. His room seemed legit enough. He had looked through his closet, frowning as he realized how incredibly unorganized he was. He seemed to have a basket for clean clothes and another for dirty. Everything in between was on the floor. Mechanic magazines lay on the desk under text books. His bed was a mattress on the floor. His comforter was spread out and smelled clean, he wondered if one of them had done that, because from what he could tell of the rest of his things, Pogue didn’t think he was the sort of guy to make his bed.

He sat down at the chair in front of his desk, flipping open the laptop. There was a moment of anxiety before he hit the power button. Did he want to see? What if he didn’t like what he found? What if he didn’t like who he was? The screen illuminated in a soft blue with a somewhat taunting icon and the request for a password.

Pogue laughed bitterly, swiveling in his chair before sighing and lifting his hands to the keyboard. He tried his name, his birth date, his address. The few things he’d gotten from the paperwork at the hospital and from the car-ride home with his roommates. None of them worked. He jumped when an arm reached over his shoulder. He looked up in surprise to see Caleb leaning over him. “Shit. I didn’t hear you come in,” he mumbled. The dark haired man smiled but didn’t look down at him, eyeing the screen instead. He leaned further, until his fingers reached the keyboard, his lower chest brushing the back of Pogue’s shoulders.

“Your password is ‘chipmunk’,” he said with a barely restrained smirk as he typed it in.

Pogue frowned. “Why?” And were they so good of friends that he knew his password?

Caleb smiled, walking around the other to lean against the desk while Pogue now searched the contents of his own computer. “I think you’re hoping Reid finds out. He had a bit of a chubby phase when we were boys and you gave him the nickname. It stuck for a few years. He wasn’t amused.”

Pogue nodded, frowning at the background on his computer, some woman spread out in a bikini on the hood of a car. Great. He was ‘that’ guy. “So, I’m a douche?”

Caleb laughed, arms folded over his chest as he watched his brother. “Reid isn’t exactly a damsel.”

He was going through files on the computer when he came to one of pictures. It opened and he skimmed dozens of himself and a dark-haired girl. “I have a girlfriend?”

Caleb’s smile vanished as he leaned forward to look at the screen. “Ex,” he corrected. “That was in high school.”

“No one since?”

Caleb hesitated. “No serious girlfriends, no,” he answered but something about it struck Pogue as strange, like a half truth with a secret held tight.

When the other man just nodded in return Caleb left the room, leaving him to skim through photos of the past few years. All he could tell from the pictures was that he seemed to really like automotives, easy women, and his friends. He stood when he couldn’t handle staring at his own face in places he didn’t remember anymore. Stepping over files of clothing, he walked out of his bedroom and into the hall, starting toward the stairs only to run into someone else. Great. He was a klutz too. His arm had reached out instinctively to stop the other from falling, for a moment holding him to him. Pogue blinked down at the surprised face. The blond with the bandage taped to the side of his throat. Chipmunk. He looked but he couldn’t remember that face ever being round.

Reid stood there almost breathlessly. Normally he would have laughed or cussed, pushed Po and called him an oaf for nearly running him down in the hall. But this week hadn’t been normal and there was nothing in the world that would make Reid break whatever spell kept the taller man standing there so close, his palm pouring warmth into the small of Reid’s back. For a moment he wanted to believe that Pogue had remembered, but the endless questions in his eyes told him different.

Finally Po cleared his throat and let go of Reid, taking a step to the side and mumbling an apology.

Reid shrugged. “Where you goin?” Pogue looked pointed unsure and the other blond smiled. “Try the garage,” he offered.

Pogue nodded and watched as Reid slowly walked past him on his way down the hall. In a flash he remembered the sound of the riffle. The sound of the sirens. He remembered coughing and rolling onto his side, remembered staring at Reid on the pavement. He was dead, he’d felt certain. His face was so pale and the blood was so dark. Almost as dark as his eyes. They were black, like a nightmare. And then the ink had faded, slipped away into the blues of his iris like a trick of the light.

He shook his head to pull away from the strange vision and realized that Reid had stopped in the hall to stare back at him. “Are you alright?”

Pogue nodded but it was a pathetic sort of lie. “Thanks.” He tensed at his own word, looking away. “For before.”

Reid was quiet for a long while before nodding back. “Anytime.” He nudged his chin toward the stairs. “Go ahead and take a look around, man. If you need something just let one of us know.” He stayed in the hall to watch Pogue walk away and even longer until Caleb came out of his room. The man had a habit of lurking. It was his way of caring.

“He doesn’t know us,” Reid whispered.

Caleb sighed. “He will.”

“No more using.” It was strange to hear it said by Reid. “Tell Ty,” he continued to stare at the empty hall. “We can’t explain that. It could scare him away. And if things get too suspicious he might not trust us.”

Caleb nodded, one hand touching the back of Reid’s neck as he eyed the bandage. “Is that why you haven’t finished healing it?” he asked, even though knowing that Reid hadn’t used since he saved Pogue was a relief. It had been a hard year and he, better than any of them, knew the consequences for using too much. He’d kept an eye on Reid, even more since the fires, but he hadn’t shown any signs of over using.

The blond smirked. “Pogue’s smart. If it doesn’t scar he might get suspicious.” He looked up at Caleb with cold eyes. “Anything on the shooter?”

Caleb nodded shortly. “I had an email this morning. He says he knows what we are. Goes on about demons and shit. He said he’ll prove it.”

Reid was quiet for a long while before exhaling. “I guess that’s even more reason not to be using.”

Caleb nodded. “Go pick up Baby Boy from class. I dropped him off this morning so he doesn’t have his car. Have him sign himself out for a couple weeks. Say he has an anxiety thing or something. I want us close to home until this is dealt with.”

Reid nodded and left. After picking up Tyler they’d gone for a long drive. Picked up a few things and conveniently stopped off at a bar for a couple rounds of pool. He knew it wasn’t exactly what Caleb meant by ‘close to home’ but he wanted to give Tyler something to focus on while he explained what was going on and what the shooter had written to Caleb. By the time they came home it was dark, the lights turned out. They sat on the couch, neither bothering with the lights.

“Do you think he’ll remember?” Tyler whispered finally.

“I don’t know.”

He nodded in the barely lit room. “How’s your neck?”

Reid shrugged and then turned his head to find Tyler staring at him. He smiled and leaned closer. “You’re such a worrier,” the blond mumbled before stealing a kiss.

 

* * *

 

It turned out he really did like the garage, or rather, the bikes in it. Of all the things, fixing engines was something he remembered. It had felt so calming to do something he knew that time slipped away from him and when Pogue finally looked up at the clock it was two in the morning. Rubbing the grease from his hands and tossing the rag into the sink, he crossed the garage and flicked off the light, opening the door quietly and returning to the house so as not to wake anyone. He was already trouble enough, it didn’t seem right to bother people while they slept as well.

He’d made it part way across the kitchen when he stopped, hearing the rustle of clothing and the shiver of breath coming from the living room. It occurred to him that he should continue on to the stairs, leave whichever of his friends and their company in peace, but something brought him silently around the corner to peer into the living room. His breath caught in his throat. Reid was shirtless, jeans opened and pushed down his hips to show off the round of his ass as he moved, thighs bent up at his sides as he drove into the body under his.

What was even more incredible was that the person stripped down and pinned under him on the couch wasn’t some random woman, it wasn’t a woman at all. Tyler was shaking, reaching above his head to claw at the cushions. Reid was holding the other man’s thighs as he thrusted, Tyler’s hand between them to stroke his own swollen sex. “Harder,” he begged, his other hand coming up to muffle his own word and then the growth of sounds that came after Reid started moving faster.

Pogue felt a shudder up his spine. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing and yet he didn’t turn away. He stood silently with his back to the wall, watching through the shadows as Reid drove Tyler into an orgasm that had the man arching off the couch and then followed. There was a stretch of moments where they simply breathed and then Reid pulled himself out and sat back on the couch, lifting his hips to pull his jeans up and together again.

Tyler gave a lazy smile and rolled off the couch, collecting his clothes before stretching naked in the living room. He whispered about the shower, an invitation to his lover.

“You go ahead,” Reid whispered back, his breath still uneven. He watched Tyler go, listened to his quiet steps upstairs before sighing heavily. His fingers crawled up to his neck, pulling the bandage off and dropping it on the floor. Pogue almost took a step away from the wall when he saw the wound gleaming in the shadows against the dark of night and the white of skin. It was red and pink and marred by staples that held the wound together. He could see the way Reid’s fingers twitched over it, resisting the urge to scratch.

Finally the blond sighed, heavy as though he were weighed down by something he wished he could simply avoid. “Po,” he finally called.

Pogue tensed, heart beat picking up as he held his breath. No. Had he known he was there? Watching? He felt his cheeks flush with humiliation. He wanted to bolt for his room and pretend this hadn’t happened but he could feel Reid waiting even if the other blond kept his eyes on the floor.

Swallowing hard, Pogue stepped out of the shadows and into the living room, stopping when he was made visible. “You knew?”

Reid smiled a little. “You were never the stealthiest person in the house.”

Pogue shivered when Reid stood. “You didn’t stop.”

The blond nodded briefly and still seemed to keep his eyes anywhere but Pogue. “This conversation might have upset Tyler. Don’t tell him you saw.” It was more of a request than a demand. He took a breath and then exhaled, diving in rather than skirting the real question. “Did you stay to watch because you liked it or because you didn’t?”

Pogue tensed and it seemed that was answer enough for Reid. His head dropped a little lower with his nod, his hands sliding into his pockets. “Don’t give Ty a hard time about it. Pretend you didn’t see it if you can,” he muttered as he walked by. Reid couldn’t imagine how crushed Baby Boy would feel if Pogue looked down on him. He had been his first after all.

Before he could think, Pogue had reached out and grabbed Reid’s arm, stopping him from walking by. He wasn’t sure why, but the idea of letting the blond slink away like that felt wrong. “I liked what I saw.” He admitted bluntly, looking away. “I’m sorry I watched though. I shouldn’t have—”

“It’s fine.” Reid laughed a little, mostly in relief. So Pogue was still Pogue inside, even if he didn’t remember. “You always had a thing for watching.”

He flushed. “What?”

Reid shrugged. “Don’t worry about it.” He started toward the stairs, smiling to himself when Pogue followed. “I think Cay’s making pancakes tomorrow.” He tossed the other man a look over his shoulder. “You do remember what pancakes are, right?” Reid smirked at the glare he received.


	13. Camping?

Reid coughed against his mouthful of pancake. Pogue blinked and Tyler tried not to smile.

“Camping?” the youngest finally said, still trying not to sound excited.

Caleb half nodded, half shrugged. “We have a few weeks off from classes and I think it would be good to get out of town for a while,” he said casual as he cut his pancakes, pretending that this had nothing to do with a psychopath and a riffle.

“Like in tents?” Reid nearly shouted in alarm.

Caleb sighed but didn’t look up across the breakfast table. “There’s a cabin. Try not to wuss out.”

“It’s not wussing out! I just don’t want to spend a week in the middle of nowhere, cold, pissing in bushes, and sleeping on the ground!”

“How is that different than your dorm years?” Caleb jabbed before lifting his glass to his lips. “We’ll pack after breakfast and be on the road before lunch.”

Reid gawked at the older mans easy authority. “You’re shitting me?” the blond snapped. “Yesterday you said we should be staying close to home. Home! Not the damn woods!”

“I think it might be fun,” Tyler muttered before taking a bite. He washed it down and looked to his right at the only one that hadn’t said anything. “What do you think?” Tyler asked Pogue almost nervously.

Pogue looked back at him. How could a man look that cute? He searched quickly for an answer that wouldn’t take away any of the careful cheer from the other’s face. “Do I like camping?” he finally asked and was rewarded by seeing Tyler’s features grow from ‘almost smiles’ to full on delight.

Reid groaned loudly, much like a young teen pitching a pit.

“You love camping!” Tyler burst. “I mean, we haven’t gone in a few years but it was always your idea. You used to drag us off into the woods and make us climb mountains and shit. One time you even tricked Reid into thinking we’d left him behind. I swear he almost cried.”

Silverware clashed violently with plate and half eaten pancake as Reid stood, ignoring the way his chair drug across the floor. Tyler watched anxiously as his friend left the room, taking to the stairs and disappearing. He looked at Caleb in his wake. “Maybe we should just stay home?” Tyler said finally.

“He’ll be fine,” the eldest stood. “Pack when you’re finished eating,” he said before crossing the room and heading upstairs after Reid.

They sat quietly for a while longer before Tyler started to make conversation. It was a blessing and some part of Pogue felt comforted by the guys voice, though the rest of him couldn’t shake the feeling that he had been a complete jerk before. It seemed every story he heard about himself involved picking on someone else, mainly Reid. Which was a surprisingly painful thought. When he slept he dreamt of gunshots, ambulances, and Reid bleeding out on the pavement. The idea that he might have been a bad friend to the same guy that had come back for him at the shooting, was almost unbearable. All he could do was hope it wasn’t like it sounded. Maybe he wasn’t understanding the stories right.

Tyler nudged his shoulder, it seemed he wasn’t listening. “Are you alright?” His hand stayed on Pogue’s shoulder.

His touch sent a shudder through Pogue, making him inhale sharply. He remembered the way the brunet had arched off the couch last night, mewling and panting for air. He remembered Tyler’s body with such clarity that he felt as though he’d been the one on top of him. He could remember those sounds so clearly, as though they had been panted against his ear. He remembered the touch, the taste, of his skin. Pogue shuddered again, and this time pulled himself up out of his chair, taking an uneasy step away from the confused brunet.

“Po?” Tyler asked softly.

“Sorry. I’m not hungry,” he said quickly, backing away because it was the last thing he wanted to do. He wanted to see if he was right. See if he really did know what the other man tasted like, but either way the answer would be damning. At best, he would be wrong and ruin what might be a good friendship but stealing a kiss. At worst, he would be right, and he would have to believe that he had been screwing around with Reid’s lover. Reid. He remembered the blond, bloody on the pavement beside him, dead for trying to save him.

“I’m going to go pack,” Pogue said as he walked away.

 

* * *

 

Caleb knocked on Reid’s door and waited. There wasn’t an answer, but he could hear the rustle of clothing and rough handling of a duffle bag. He walked in, saw the blond angrily shoving clothing into black canvas, and closed the door firmly behind himself. “Reid…”

“You’re an ass.”

Caleb managed not to roll his eyes, not that the blond would have seen. “You’re gonna pop some of those stitches if you don’t calm down.”

“Fuck you,” he snapped and this time it was hard for Caleb not to smile. He loved when Reid got surly. It wasn’t as common these days as it had been in high school. The past year had been hard on Reid. “I hate camping,” the blond complained bitterly. “You know I hate camping.”

“I know.”

Reid sighed, dropping a pair of jeans and standing straight, turning his head to the side to give the older man a sharp glare. “You’re an ass.”

Caleb crossed the room to stand closer, not touching, but close enough to be touched. “We got another letter from the shooter. It was on the doormat this morning, on the newspaper.”

Reid’s blue eyes slid down to stare blindly at the bed. “Did you call the cops?”

“No.”

The blond sighed and shook his head. “Just call the damn cops. Let them deal with this. It’s their job, right? They can handle it.”

Caleb was quiet for a long while, staring at his brother. Reid had never been interested in outside help before. No, he had always enforced the coven and insisted that they keep all things to themselves and solve their own problems. “How are you?”

Reid’s face scrunched with annoyance.

“Baby Boy says you shake sometimes. He also said you’ve been tired more.”

“Is Baby Boy a nurse now?” Reid grinned. “If he is, we should get him one of those little dresses. I think he’s got the hips for it—”

“Reid,” Caleb said, using his stern voice, his eyes dark like his hair. Naturally dark.

Reid exhaled and ran fingers back through his hair. “I’m… I don’t know. The magic is there. It’s just… I don’t want to use it anymore,” he said, looking up through his lashes to see that stoic look on his brother. “Everything is harder. Heavier. I think I’ve used too much, Cay,” he whispered that last sentence. It sounded simple, but he knew Caleb would understand the depth of it. His body was already feeling the weight of his use. It would only get worse now. Every small amount used would take a toll that couldn’t be reversed. It was like he’d taken his first step toward dying.

Caleb nodded slowly, one arm reaching out to stroke the back of Reid’s neck, careful not to touch the bandages. “Alright,” he answered simply. Don’t use, he meant. “I’ll handle this.”

“No,” Reid said, shaking his head and looking up at the brunet. “You’re sliding Cay. What happened with Po… him not remembering… maybe that’s a sign,” he whispered darkly. “You and Ty need to stop too. We can let it go together.”

Caleb was quiet for a while longer and then nodded. “Alright,” he said again before turning toward the door. “But we’re still camping so get your shit together.”

Reid cursed under his breath and watched Caleb go, closing the door behind himself. He waited another moment, and then went to his dresser, opened a drawer and took out a gun. He slid it into the back of his jeans, under his shirt and jacket. “I hate camping,” he muttered again.

 

* * *

 

The car ride was tense, despite Tyler’s attempts to make it fun. It was dark by the time they reached the cabin, tucked away up in the woods near a lake. It was small, something Reid wasn’t slow to point out. There were only two bedrooms. Caleb and Pogue shared one while Reid and Tyler shared the other. Oddly, that had always been how they divided things. Oldest and youngest. There was a small living room with an incredibly old couch and a few chairs around a table, and a kitchen with a wood burning stove.

Reid sat with a heavy frown on the couch. “We’re going to die,” he said grimly.

Caleb laughed as he worked on lighting the stove. “Shut up, you pansy. We’re going to be fine.”

“It’s cold.”

“That’s because I haven’t lit this thing yet.”

“There’s no television.”

“Read a fucking book,” Caleb snapped. A small familiar sound rang behind him and he turned to look at the blond in the living room, he had flipped open and turned on a game boy.

“Don’t tell me you bought that just because we’re camping.”

Tyler laughed and sat down next to Reid, taking the game away from him. “It’s mine,” he corrected, thumbing the buttons. “I think it was a great idea to get away for a while. Maybe the cops will catch the shooter while we’re gone.”

Caleb and Reid looked at the youngest with the same expression of surprise. Smiling wide, Reid draped an arm over the other man’s shoulders and pulled him close, whispering almost cheerfully. “Baby Boy, we’re not hiding out in the woods. We’re bait.”

Tyler blinked and then looked up at his best friend, shock coloring his cheeks. “What?” He swung his head to the side to look at Caleb, who had already returned his attentions to lighter fluid and matches. “He’s joking right?”

“Don’t panic, Baby Boy. You’ll be fine.”

“Fine?” the youngest practically hissed. “You’re telling me I’m a worm but I’m fine?”

“Shut up,” Reid said lowly just before the front door opened and Pogue walked in.

He paused just inside the door, looking at Tyler folded into Reid’s side, grumpily playing video games. Caleb was in the kitchen that occupied the far wall of the small room. It seemed that the couple on the couch was common knowledge, common enough that Caleb knew about them as well. Pogue walked around the couch, holding a small pile of logs. “Looks like someone keeps this place stocked. There was a shed on the side with wood.” Pogue dropped the pieces into a pile beside the stove.

“Yeah. My family owns the place,” Caleb said, the fire lit. “There’s a man that lives at the end of the road we took up here. He comes up and keeps the place in shape between seasons.”

After dinner, they spent the bulk of the night playing cards. Caleb marveled at how Reid managed to still win even without the ability to cheat- well, to cheat with magic, anyway. When he’d lost all of his cash and a bag of skittles, Caleb stood and stretched. Pogue was asleep on the couch, sitting upright with his head leaned back and Tyler was curled into a chair, still playing his game boy.

Reid laughed as he took the pile of bills off the table, folding them and shoving them into his pocket as he stood. “Giving up already?” he teased, tearing the corner of the skittles bag and pouring a few brightly colored pieces into his palm.

Caleb smiled. “Guess so.” He walked around the coach toward his and Pogue’s room. “How about tomorrow we compete at something else?”

“Oh?” Reid sounded interested.

“Fishing?” Caleb joked.

Reid made a disagreeing sound and then offered an alternative. “How about swimming?”

The eldest snorted. “It’s too cold and somehow I doubt those stitches should be going into the lake.”

“Chicken,” Reid muttered before walking into the bathroom and closing the door.

Caleb looked back into the living room, wondering for a moment if he should wake Pogue but finally decided not to.

Tyler jumped up from his chair, ready to gloat as he had at last finished the game, only to realize that his brothers had left. Well, all but one. He stood for a while, unsure what to do, waiting for someone to come back out but no one did. Had they gone to bed and he hadn’t noticed? He closed the game and dropped it on the chair behind him, taking a step closer to Pogue and then hesitating. It wasn’t right but when he slept he looked the same as before, no question or confusion in his eyes, only the calm ease that had been Po before.

It only took a couple steps and he was carefully climbing onto Pogue’s lap, straddling his waist. He sat there for a moment, listening to the other breathe, drawing a sharp breath when Pogue shifted to loosely coil arms around Tyler, hand resting on his ass. 

“Po?” the youngest whispered, fingers touching the other man’s cheek as he leaned closer.

“Hmm?” Pogue responded sleepily.

“When are you going to remember me?” he asked, brushing his lips over the blonde’s lower one.

Pogue shivered, arms tightening to pull Tyler closer, those soft lips crushing against his. He woke slowly to that kiss, to the parting of lips and the intrusion of tongue. He tasted exactly the way he remembered. And in that moment between sleep and awake he remembered more than just a taste. He remembered showers with tangled limbs. He remembered Tyler mewling into his sheets and playful morning sex. He remembered the brunet’s head in his lap. He remembered their fingers laced.

His eyes opened and his fingers curled into the back of Tyler’s shirt, resisting the urge to take it off. He could. He had before. That was the damning realization that jolted him from their passion. He had before. Pogue stood suddenly, knocking Tyler to the floor in the process.

The youngest landed on his ass with a thump and a curse.

The bathroom door opened at the sound and Reid leaned out. He’d taken the bandage off his neck, exposing that welted flesh. “What the fuck is going on?” Reid hissed as he stepped out into the living room.

Pogue stood frozen for a moment. He looked back at the blond and then down at the brunet again. He was fucking around with his friend’s boyfriend. That’s the kind of person he was. His head hurt, his vision swam, and yet he managed to round the couch and cross the room, grabbing at the doorknob of his bedroom with suddenly cold fingers and ducking inside. He closed the door harder than he’d intended but it couldn’t be helped. For a moment he stood there, blind to the room and the other man sitting on one of the beds, staring at him curiously.

He shook his head to dismiss the questions before going quietly to his bed and laying down with his back to the other. He knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep, but he couldn’t bear to look at anyone either.

 

* * *

 

Tyler stood, his frown deep and his brown eyes not quite meeting Reid’s. The blond leaned against the doorway of the bathroom patiently, waiting for his best friend to work through whatever emotions were making his throat flex. Baby Boy had always been the softest of them. They teased him when it wasn’t important, but Reid wouldn’t tease him now, even as he watched him scrub his face angrily to keep the tears back. “Come on,” the blond called and just like all the times before, the brunet came. He sighed when he reached Reid, his head ducked forward so that his hair would hide his eyes. “He’ll never remember us, will he?”

Reid reached out, curling his fingers around the back of his brother’s neck and pulling him in to lean against his body. There was comfort in contact. “He might,” the blond whispered.

The other sighed, pain stricken by doubt, against his shoulder. “What if he doesn’t?”

Reid stroked brown hair and nodded at the weight of that possibility. “It’ll hurt. But he’s our brother, Baby Boy, whether he remembers or not.” He gave the other another moment to stand there before pulling him along into the bathroom. He had planned to shower alone, but it seemed wrong to leave his friend alone.

 


	14. Jump

The last day and a half had been tense. Pogue had stopped talking, stopped smiling, even stopped making eye contact, which was particularly awkward for the group since they were living in a cabin that was beginning to feel like a shrinking cage. Caleb had tried on several occasions to lighten the mood- a sign that things had really gone wrong since Caleb was never the one to make jokes or offer pointless conversational topics.

Reid had spent the better part of an hour sitting in the tension of the cabin, playing a silent and joyless game of cards with Caleb. Pogue sat in the chair nearest the door, pretending to read a book while Tyler sulked on the couch, jabbing miserably at the buttons of his game boy. The silence was thick, the unhappiness grating Reid’s nerves. It wasn’t a surprise to anyone, well, maybe Pogue, that the blond was the first snap. With a swear and the sound of his chair skidding back, Reid stood. “That’s it.” He threw his cards on the table and walked around the couch, pulling his jacket off of it. He grabbed Pogue’s coat from the wall where it hung and threw it at him, careless to how this affected his book. “Get up. We’re going for a walk.”

He pulled his jacket on and opened the door, standing there with it open and waiting with a sharp glare on the other blond.

“Reid—” Caleb started.

“Camping was your idea,” Reid snapped. “I’m going for a walk and he’s coming with me.”

“It looks like it’s going to rain,” Tyler muttered.

“Well then it’s a good thing you’ll be tucked inside, Baby Boy.” Reid waited until Pogue stood and passed him before closing the door.

Tyler stared at the place where they had been only moments before, frowning and holding his game boy tight. “What do you think they’ll talk about?”

Caleb made a sound that said he didn’t know, tapping the cards against the table as he folded them back into the deck.

“Should I follow them?” Tyler murmured, still staring at the door.

Caleb looked at his brother curiously, setting the cards down on the table in front of him. “Why?” His voice was dark, testing, as though careful not to break whatever trance of thought the youngest was in.

“Po doesn’t know to Use and Reid…” He stood and grabbed his jacket, heading toward the door. “I won’t bother them, I’ll just—” His hand was on the doorknob, turning and pulling. Just as soon as the door had begun to open it snapped shut again, Caleb’s hand pressing the wood back into place. Tyler looked up at his taller brother now standing beside him, tower over him. “I’m just going to keep an eye on them.”

“They aren’t children, Ty,” Caleb said, still holding the door shut. “Reid obviously wants to talk to him alone.”

“Why?” Tyler snapped, edgy. “It’s not safe out there and he’s… he’s…”

“What?” Caleb urged, waiting for him to say it. This had been weighing on Tyler for days.

The youngest glared up at him, angry for having to say it. “He can’t use, Cay. He’s tapped out. We can’t just let him run around in the damn woods alone.”

“He’s not alone, and even if he were, he’d be fine,” the dark-haired man said calmly. “He’s not weak, Baby Boy. You know that.”

Tyler sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face. “Last time he was alone with Po…”

Caleb frowned. “That wasn’t Pogue’s fault.”

“I know! I know,” Tyler sighed. “But it happened. They both died, Caleb. Reid brought him back to life and… neither of them are the same,” he whispered, his voice almost breaking. “I can’t sleep at night. All I can do is listen to him breathing, afraid that he’ll stop.”

Sighing gently, Caleb touched the other man’s shoulder. “He’s still Reid, Ty. Even if he can’t Use, he’s still the strongest of us.”

Tyler looked down, sadness pulling at his features. “And Pogue—”

“We’re a family, Baby Boy. It’s not always easy. Pogue might remember someday and Reid…” He smiled reassuringly. “Trust me, Reid can handle himself.”

 

* * *

 

He hated camping.

Pogue walked out into the woods, leaves crisp and crunching under their shoes. The trees seemed sparse but went on forever around them. Reid stopped only when it seemed he could keep from speaking no longer, turning on his heels so fast that Pogue was startled into a stop. “What the hell is wrong with you?” the shorter man demanded.

The more time he’d spent thinking since his encounter with Tyler, the more certain he was that it wasn’t the first time. He remembered entire nights with Tyler, remembered his body wet in the shower, remembered trying to keep their moans quiet by smothering their lips together.  How could he be that person? How could he be screwing around with Reid’s boyfriend behind his back? Reid. He shuddered. He still remembered the blond on the concrete beside him, dying right before his eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Pogue exhaled miserably.

Reid scrunched his face in bewilderment. “What’s wrong with you?”

“I…” He cringed not knowing how to say it. “I’m not a good friend. I’m not a good person.”

Reid stared for a moment and then laughed. “What?” he said again. “Did you hit your head again?”

“I had sex with Tyler.”

Reid blinked now, his laughter suddenly gone and replaced by careful confusion. “Last night?”

Pogue shook his head. “No. I don’t know when, but I know I have. I remember things. I want him.” The last sentence was a whispered shame.

Reid nodded slowly, entirely unsure what to say next.

The other man sighed heavily and looked down. “I’m sorry.”

It suddenly hit Reid, what those words meant and why there was so much guilt in his brother’s eyes. “I think you’ve misunderstood something,” Reid said finally, straightening and watching his own breath form small clouds in the cold air. “Tyler and I aren’t exclusive.” He laughed a little at the thought. “None of us are.”

Pogue shifted uncomfortably. “What do you mean?” he asked, though relieved that he wasn’t the worst friend ever, there was something else in Reid’s words. “None of us?”

Reid sighed. He didn’t want to be the one to have this conversation. The idea of Pogue cringing away from him, judging him, maybe even being disgusted by him was a nightmare but he couldn’t leave it for Tyler. He wasn’t sure Tyler could handle that. Honestly, he wasn’t sure he could either. “We’re… uh…” He suddenly felt uncomfortable, cursing under his breath and dragging his fingers through his hair. “All of us are kind of…”

That was when it started raining. Reid groaned, why did he have to go camping? Why did he have to have this conversation out there, with no ability to retreat to his bedroom or take off with Tyler’s car? Why did he have to have this conversation at all?

“Kind of what?”

“Kind of…” Lovers? No. Fuck buddies? No. “We kind of sleep together. Mess around. All of us.”

Pogue was quiet and Reid was currently interested in the leaves on the ground. Why was it so damn cold out here?

“So… You and I have…?” he murmured.

Reid sighed and looked up, his hands were stuffed in his pockets and he was about to try to brush of their relationship as something casual. It was casual wasn’t it? It had always been so natural. As soon as he looked up he felt his nerves tighten, his heart leaping up into his throat. There among the trees behind Pogue stood a man, a moderately large man holding a rifle. He felt the blood drain out of his face. Not again. He pushed himself forward those few steps and curled his fingers in the front of Pogue’s shirt, dragging him to the ground before he could say anything and just as the gunshot rang out.

They hit the ground and rolled in a tumble of limbs down the slope. “Get up!” Reid shouted even before he had managed to stop rolling, pulling Pogue into a stand with him that was immediately a run. A second shot tore at a tree precariously close to Reid’s head. They ran hard, the rain sharp against their skin, the gunshots always close.

They came to a stop behind a sharp ledge of rock. Pogue had his back to the bolder, panting. “W-What’s going on? Why does he want to kill us?”

“Does it really matter right now?” Reid snapped as bolder shipped across from them where a bullet tried to make a home. He exhaled sharply and pulled the gun from the back of his pants, cocking it quickly and walking around the back of the bolder. It was right up against a cliff, a drop off into a damn river. Of course they were cornered.

“Why do you have a gun!” Pogue demanded.

“Because people keep shooting at us!” Reid retorted, sighing and dragging his fingers through his hair. “What are we going to do?” he seemed to ask himself.

Pogue stared at him. He was pacing in that short distance, lean body tense, gun in hand and mind reeling. How could he forget someone like that?

“Come out, you fags!” the man shouted, he sounded far away. Snipers liked distance, Reid guessed. “Those other two are probably dead by now!”

Reid bared his teeth and hissed. “Why don’t you come in and get us!” he shouted back.

Pogue had walked up to that drop off of soil, the cliff into a deep blue river. “Can we make that?”

Reid came up to stand at his side, smiling at the idea. “You could,” he assured.

“Can I swim?” Pogue asked, already mentally preparing himself to jump.

The blond at his side laughed. “Can you swim? Fuck, you can out swim a damn shark.”

Pogue nodded before looking over at Reid. “Can you swim?”

Reid grinned, broad and devious. “Better than you.” Used to be better than you, he thought. It had been a hard year. He couldn’t Use to make up for that and his body just wasn’t as strong as it used to be. No point in worrying. Po would make it.

He put the gun back into the back of his jeans. “Ready?”

Pogue nodded but then grabbed Reid’s shoulder before he could leap. “I’m sorry I forgot you,” he said, his hand touching the bandage on Reid’s neck. “I’m sorry I don’t remember you, even though you saved me.” His hand moved up from his neck to touch his cheek, to slide his fingers into Reid’s hair and cup the back of his head, a small smile creeping over his lips. “And I’m damn sorry I don’t remember fooling around with you.” He pulled his head forward while he dipped his own face down, kissing him deeply. It felt right.

When they pulled apart Reid smiled and exhaled dramatically before rolling his shrugging. “You can make up for it later,” he murmured and then they jumped. The fall felt longer than it really was, pushing their stomachs up into their chests before they crashed into the cold current.

 

* * *

 

Tyler arched, head dropped back and hair stretching toward the white sheets of the mattress. His fingers were latched onto Caleb’s shoulders. The dark haired man had one hand to the bed behind his lover and the other wrapped around Tyler, palm to the brunets spine as he rocked his hips in a restrained rhythm. He was always more careful with Tyler, more cautious, because Tyler was the only one that might not like something but still not say anything. He always kept his eyes on the youngest’s face and somehow that had become erotic as well, watching the way his lips parted wider when Caleb pushed deeper, the way his breaths came in sharper mewling gasps the closer he got to his end, the way his eyes pressed shut like he was in pain those last few moments.

Afterward, Caleb rolled off of the bed and stretched almost proudly while Tyler started toward the bathroom. “Want to join me?” the youngest offered, grabbing a towel.

Caleb smiled but shook his head. “You go for it, I’m gonna start on dinner,” he said while pulling on a pair of pajama pants, the kind that hung low on his hips and drug heels on the floor. Leaving the room and walking the short distance through the living room space to the corner kitchen, he found himself wondering if he should be worried about Reid and Pogue. Should he go look for them?

Too late he realized that someone else was there in the cabin, stepping out of the deep shadows beside the door to stretch his arm and show off the revolver at the end. Caleb stood still, turning fully to look at the man. He’d never seen him before and yet the guy was grinning as though he’d been looking for him for a long time.

“Where’s your friend?” the stranger demanded, voice low and shaky, nervous.

The sound of the shower in the other room answered before Caleb could. “Sit down,” he ordered, nudging his head toward the nearest chair but never moving the barrel of his gun from its aim on Caleb.

Caleb had raised his hand a little, it seemed to be the natural thing to do when a gun was being directed toward someone. “Why are you doing this?” he tried to ask calmly, taking his time to move toward the indicated chair.

“Shut up and sit down, demon!”

Well, that answered that. His mind kept sifting through his choices. He could disarm the gun. He could destroy the man completely. But those choices involved Using. Were there choices that didn’t? As soon as he sat down the stranger crossed the room, bringing that barrel closer and closer. “If I was a demon, would I be afraid of a guy with a gun?”

The man’s arm swung suddenly, the metal body of his weapon slamming across Caleb’s cheek, splitting open the skin that stretched over his cheekbone. He pretended that it had messed with his consciousness, letting his head lull forward while his cheek throbbed, sending rivulets of blood down the side of his face. He heard the chimes of cuffs when the man pulled out a pair.

“Tell me,” Caleb murmured. He shouldn’t ask, he told himself, it was better if he didn’t know. “Were you the one that shot them? At the university?”

The man laughed, still sounding nervous, and cuffed Caleb’s wrists with the chair crossing under the arm of the wooden chair, locking his hands together on one side. “No. He’s putting them down in the woods right now.”

Caleb ground his teeth, resisting that urge to use, to let his eyes slide into black. “And what are you going to do?”

The man grinned, a little bolder now that his prey was cuffed to the chair. “First, I’m gonna go get that little boyfriend of yours. Then I’m gonna put him on his knees in front of you and blow his skull out.” He took a backward step, still reluctant to pull his eyes off of Caleb until he was close to the bedroom door. His gun lowered as he turned toward that open doorway, looking at the empty rumpled bed as he walked in, comforted by the sound of the shower.

“Tyler!” Caleb shouted, his sense of calm or control lost the moment the man with the gun was out of his sight. He was going to bring Tyler out, not shoot him in the shower. There should be some relief in that. He stood and lifted the chair. It wasn’t light but it wasn’t so heavy either. He brought the old wooden furniture down hard against the floor, once and then twice until the arm splintered and broke, allowing him to pull his arms free of it, though still cuffed together. Grabbing a knife from the kitchen he turned toward the bedroom only to have his steps falter at the sound of a gunshot. His stomach sank and his legs almost crumbled.

“Tyler,” the name wheezed from his lips in the silence that followed. Had he made the wrong choice, betting that the killer would come back out with Tyler alive? Had he made the wrong choice in not using his powers to end this situation before it started? His legs drug him to the open doorway. There was a body on the floor with blood gushing from a head wound onto hardwood. But it was the one still standing that held Caleb’s reverent attention. Tyler was still naked from the shower, though not dripping. When had he realized something was wrong? Had he heard them talking and snuck out of the bathroom?

Caleb didn’t know, maybe would never know if he guessed by that glazed look on his friend’s face. The youngest was standing there over the body, holding what looked to be a book end in one hand, the corner of which had become a weapon and now dripped with evidence.

“Ty,” The eldest said softly.

The youngest twitched but didn’t look away from the body on the floor. “He… He’s the one that killed them—tried to kill them, right?”

Caleb moved closer until he was at Tyler’s side, reaching out carefully to try to take the bookend from him. “No, Baby Boy.” He saw instantly the panic in the other man’s eyes, the fear that he’d just murdered the wrong person. “But he was going to kill us.” Tyler let go and with both hands, Caleb caught the heavy weapon and set it down quietly before crouching beside the body and searching the man’s pockets for the key to the cuffs. It was in his jacket, he dropped the cuffs on the floor beside him and then grabbed Tyler by the wrist, pulling him out into the living room. He went back for a pair of pants for the other and shirts for both of them, returning to the stunned man and closing the door.

“Get dressed,” he ordered softly, shoving the clothing into Tyler’s arms. Soon enough the youngest seemed to snap out of it, pulling his clothes on. He looked up to realize that Caleb was pulling on a pair of shoes as well. “Where are we going?”

“I’m going to get Reid and Po,” Caleb said, emphasizing the fact that he wasn’t taking Tyler with him. Before the youngest could protest he had tossed him Reid’s cell phone from the couch. “Call the police.”

“And say what?” Tyler asked, holding the phone like it might bite him.

“The truth.” Caleb laughed uneasily as he started for the door. “Lock up when I leave, don’t let anyone in unless it’s one of us or a cop.”

Tyler blinked after him when the door closed, stunned for a moment before hurrying forward and sliding the deadbolt into place before dialing.


	15. Sweetheart

They had just moved to the new house, the one that would someday burn to the ground, but at the time it was new and their first. Their first semester of college had only started a week ago and already they were having a party, the bottom floor of their house full of drunk dancing strangers.

It was two in the morning and Pogue was standing with his back leaned to the wall, a couple of half blitzed girls talking to him, though he would never be able to remember their faces or what they were saying. Reid didn’t know he was looking, those were the best moments. They were friends and brothers, sometimes a little more. They’d both been with Caleb. His best friend and lover hadn’t told him, it wouldn’t be like him to brag, but Pogue had been able to tell. Caleb and Reid had been dancing around each other for years. In that last semester of highschool, after Caleb left Sarah, things had finally smoothed out between the four of them, well, as smooth as anything could be with Reid.

Pogue held his beer to his lips, never quite taking his eyes off of the other blond across the room. His hand was touching his neck, his eyes downcast. He was flirting. His smile was coy and from the look on the other guy’s face, Pogue could only imagine what Reid was saying. Like the devil he was, the slight blond walked past the jock, a straight laced looking sort of brute that was more than happy to follow him up the stairs.

Pogue watched them go and for a moment told himself to leave it be. He wasn’t jealous or angry but still the idea of not running after them, of letting Reid waste another night with a man that wouldn’t know how to love him seemed wrong. He handed his half finished beer to one of the girls desperately trying to flirt with him, murmured an apology, and headed upstairs.

On his way down the hall he poked his head into Tyler’s room, the door open, to see the youngest of them passed out on his bed. He closed the door before heading toward Reid’s room. He could hear them inside. The jock was saying that he didn’t usually do this sort of thing, not with guys, but Reid was pretty like a girl. The door wasn’t locked and when he opened it he stepped inside.

The jock jumped up from the bed, leaving Reid laying there in his jeans.

“Get out,” Pogue said simply, nudging his head in the direction of the door. The jock hesitated but only for a second before grabbing his shirt and rushing out into the hall, the door slamming behind him.

Reid was propped up on his elbows now, his eyes narrowed on Pogue. “What the hell man?” He didn’t sound entirely angry. He probably hadn’t had high expectations for his night with the closet brute. “I don’t cock block you.”

Pogue rolled his eyes and walked to the bed, his shins touching the mattress. “He wasn’t worth the time.”

Reid snorted. “Says you. I’ve seen him in the locker room, he’s hung.”

Po smirked then, shrugging one shoulder. “So am I.”

The younger blond smiled. “Tease.”

“I’m not teasing,” Pogue said seriously, eyes half lidded from a long night of drinking. He took off his shirt and watched his friend staring, watched those delicate features shifting with confusion, with desire. “He wasn’t good enough, Reid. You know that. He wouldn’t take care of you.”

Reid’s expression soured around his lust. “I don’t need taking care of.”

Pogue climbed onto the bed, his body sliding up over Reid’s, the smaller man lying back to stare up at his friend. “Sure, sweetheart.” He smirked and watched Reid’s face turn red with anger, his mouth opening to spit obscenities, but Pogue didn’t give him the chance, his lips taking their chance and his tongue delving in.

It wasn’t their first kiss, but it was deeper than any before. Not until Reid’s body was squirming beneath his did he left him breathe again, moving his teeth and tongue to Reid’s long pale neck while his fingers worked their pants open. “He wasn’t worth you.” His mouth burned a path up to the soft flesh under Reid’s ear. “You aren’t pretty like a girl, Reid, you’re beautiful like a man.”

Reid shivered beneath him, hand pushing deftly at his arm. “S-shut up, man… don’t say shit like that.”

Pogue stole another kiss before sitting up, squirming out of his own pants before pulling Reid’s off of him. Reid had never been comfortable receiving compliments, he was better with insults, a gift of a shitty family and a string of stepfathers. Pogue didn’t care what Reid was comfortable with, because there were truths he needed to hear sometimes.

The younger blond had rolled over and pulled his knees up, getting himself on all fours. Pogue blinked at the beautiful but somehow disheartening display. He shouldn’t have waited this long to be with Reid but he hadn’t wanted to risk getting in the way of Reid and Caleb. Hands on those hips he tugged the younger blond out of his position and turned him around. He saw the confusion and skepticism in those icy blue eyes. Grabbing Reid’s thighs, he pulled him up to sit in his lap, straddling him to have his own erection rubbing against Reid’s ass. “Why’d you pick that guy up anyway?” he whispered, wrapping his fingers around the younger blonde’s cock and stroking him slowly.

“I-I told you… he’s hung like a—”

“The truth.” Pogue smiled, his mouth finding Reid’s neck again.

Reid hesitated, moaning lowly and curling his fingers in the back of Pogue’s hair. “I-I don’t know… Bad company is better than no company.”

Pogue bit him lightly before licking that spot. “Why not find Cay?”

Reid tensed and Pogue could almost feel his friend thinking. “He… He told you?” Reid asked, trying not to sound unnerved.

Pogue shook his head, rolling his hips up to push his hard length against Reid, watching the blond shudder out a moan.

“I-I don’t go to Caleb, he comes to me.” There was so much pride in those words and so many exposed nerves. Reid had never liked admitted that he needed anyone.

Sliding his hand down Reid’s thigh, he lifted him a little, enough to push his hips upward and have his cock pushing into that tight hole. Reid moaned and arched a little, straining and squirming down to fill himself. When he completely seated, his body wrapped around the other, Pogue grabbed his thighs to hold him there, keeping him from rising up and building a pace. He held him like that, ignoring his pleas and demands, his squirms and wiggles that sent lust shivering through his veins. He kept him flush against himself until he was sure neither of them could take it any longer and then he let go.

One hand returned to Reid’s cock, stroking him as he watched the pale blond ride him. He had thought then that it was something he would never forget, one of those moments he had burned into his memory.

 

* * *

 

His head came up above the frigid water, mouth opening wide to suck in a breath before the current pulled him under again. Every glimpse he managed to get when he was above water was a blur of trees and river. He was so cold that his skin was burning. He couldn’t see Reid anywhere. Hadn’t seen him since they jumped. He swam until his limbs ached, shoes and clothing no help, and yet somehow he made it to the rocks of the riverbank.

Rolling onto his back, Pogue panted, staring up at the cloudy sky and watching his breath form in the icy air. “Reid,” he exhaled a call that wasn’t much more than a whisper. Twisting onto his side he managed to get himself on his feet. He had to blink more than a few times to see straight, his body was so cold. He looked up the riverbank, rocks and trees against the edge of violent water. “Reid!” he shouted.

He started walking in the other direction, around a bend, panic making him move faster. He found him there, half in the water, half on the rocks. There was a fleeting moment of relief just to see that he wasn’t lost to the currents, but it faded quickly when he realized that he wasn’t moving. Pogue’s legs stumbled on the rocks as he ran to him, suddenly terrified that the water would drag him back in. He grabbed Reid, rolling him onto his back and pulling him up the bank until he was completely out of the water. He was so pale and so still. He couldn’t help but remember the way he’d been in the ambulance.

“Reid,” he demanded, leaning closer. His heart sunk when he realized that the other man wasn’t breathing. “No. No.” Pogue hissed, his eyes flushing black. “Wake up,” he demanded, his voice harsh and deep with the flood of his power as he tried to put things right inside his brother. Nothing changed.

“Come on, Reid.” He folded his hands over the other man’s chest to push down in steady beats before tipping his head back and blowing air into his lungs. They’d had to learn cpr for swim club, though honestly he’d never thought he’d need it. “Wake up! I remember! I remember!” Pogue shouted, frantic. Tears were sliding from black eyes down cold cheeks as he pressed his palms down rhythmically against the other man’s chest, desperate to restart his heart, desperate to get just one more chance. How many times could they cheat Reid’s death? Maybe it was meant to be. No. No. He was yelling, begging as he tried to resuscitate his brother. He couldn’t die like this, not like this, not after everything. He couldn’t die thinking he’d been forgotten.

Pogue’s fist slammed down against Reid’s chest after having filled his lungs for the fifth time. And finally, that frail body lurched and twisted with a cough, water bubbling up from his lungs to spill over from his mouth. His sudden movement both startled and relieved Pogue as he quickly pulled the other man onto his side so that he could cough freely. “Shit,” Pogue exhaled with a shudder of gratitude. “You really had me worried, sweetheart.”

Reid coughed for another five minutes, inhaling in deep gasps before his breathing finally evened out and his body focused instead on the intense cold that had soaked into his bones. “S-sweetheart?” the smaller blond managed, his blue eyes looking more than just a little hazy.

Pogue sighed and pulled him up into his arms, looking around now at the tree line and river for some sign of what he should do now, where they should go, where he could take Reid. A hospital would probably be nice.

“Po?” Reid murmured, his teeth chattering now.

“Yeah?” the other man said.

“Did you call me sweetheart?”

The older blond laughed a little. “You’re going to start complaining about that now? It’s been years, just get used to it.”

Reid exhaled a little sigh that startled Pogue, making the older blond look down at his blue lipped friend. “So, I just had to drop you in a half-frozen river to get you to remember, good to know,” Reid muttered.

Po smiled. “Shut up.”

Reid smirked but his eyes had closed, his breath evening out as though he might fall asleep. Pogue jostled him quickly. When those icy blue eyes glared up at him he smiled to see that fire still there inside him. “You think I’m going to carry you around the woods like a princess?” Pogue stood, pulling Reid up to his feet as well. He could have carried him, he’d carried Reid plenty of times over their lives. Usually when he was so drunk he couldn’t walk, a few times when he was asleep, and that one time when they were playing on his father’s estate and Reid had broken his leg. He could have carried him, but then Reid would have fallen asleep and hypothermia and sleep probably didn’t mix well.

They staggered through the woods, one of Pogue’s arms wrapped around Reid’s back to hold him up against his side.

“Do you even know where we’re going?” Reid managed to smirk with his purple tinted lips, a startling color against his graying skin. Pogue had Used to dry their clothes but that seemed to be the extent of his powers ability to help Reid.

When Pogue didn’t answer, Reid laughed weakly. “Great… we’re lost. I hate camping.”

“You loved camping when we were kids,” Pogue muttered.

“Yeah,” Reid stumbled to keep his steps in pace, watching his own legs as they staggered on. “Until you ditched me in the woods all night just to get a laugh,” he muttered, more than a little bitter.

“I never ditched you,” Pogue countered, still looking around the woods as he tried to guide them toward a road. He was sure there was one. They’d driven this side of the river on their way.

“You’re going to lie?” Reid said sharply, though his words were a little slurred by the numbness of his face. “Now? I could fucking die and you’re lying?”

Pogue groaned. “I never left you.” He shifted Reid against his side, holding him tight and pulling them both up an incline. “You wondered off. I thought you were Tyler but you weren’t. So I told Tyler you were with me and left him with Cay. I looked all over that damn forest until dark. I’ve never been more scared in my life,” he sighed. “When I found you, you were so freaked out. You said you’d been lost and you thought no one would ever find you…. So I told you that I’d been with you the whole time and it was a joke. It just… seemed like a better story.”

When Reid didn’t say anything, Pogue stopped walking to look at him. He looked so pale but he was still awake, staring back at him. He realized suddenly that Reid was trying to decide if he was lying or not and could see the moment he realized it was true. “It wasn’t a prank,” he muttered. His eyes blinked strangely and Pogue worried that he was about to pass out. He was surprised Reid had pushed himself this far without losing consciousness.

Reid’s body staggered a step back just in time for a bullet to sink into the tree behind him, splintering the wood to the sound of a gunshot. That seemed to wake them both up. Pogue pulled Reid quickly around another large tree, pressing Reid’s body into the bark and hoping it hid them from the sniper. The smaller man shivered, one arm curling behind himself to try to grab at his gun only to find that it was gone, probably lost to the river. He looked up and was momentarily surprised to see that Pogue was smirking, his lips twisted deviously at the corners. “You’re glad he caught up?”

Pogue grinned out right now, his eyes black. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but if you weren’t tapped out, you would have been looking forward to this too.” He kissed Reid’s forehead. “Don’t move, Sweetheart.”

Pogue stepped out from behind the tree and into the small clearing, his nerves on fire and his eyes like night. He remembered lying on the pavement at the school, remembered paramedics and Reid’s body. This guy would have killed them, had killed them for a moment. He was ready this time and it only took a split second before the forest cracked with another gunshot and the air rippled in front of Pogue’s face, a long bullet caught there in the air held by nothing but his will. It stared him in the eye and for that moment time had stilled, he looked through trees and branches, across a stretch of forest to see the man standing in the shadows of trees holding a long rifle.

Using, he looked the man in the eye from that distance and then sent the bullet back on that new path, giving time back to the forest with the split second so that fear could fill the man before the bullet ripped through his skull.

Pogue stood in the quiet that followed, feeling relieved and uncomfortable at the same time. He’d never killed anyone before, he realized only after. He whirled around when he felt someone else standing nearby, his lips twisted with a snarl at the prospect of another enemy, this one behind him and close to Reid. Caleb stood there be the tree, hand cupping Reid’s cold cheek to turn his face up and frown at his condition. They could hear sirens in the distance, hopefully the police Tyler had called would have an ambulance with them.

Caleb picked up Reid and started through the woods, trusting Pogue to follow. “Glad you’re back,” the eldest said.

“Yeah, me too,” Pogue muttered, still a little uneasy.

“You did the right thing,” his best friend assured.

“I know.”

“You don’t, but I do.” Caleb looked at him, his eyes always a darker shade than normal. He smiled a little. “But just so you know, we aren’t Using anymore.”

“Any of us?”

“Any of us.”

Pogue nodded slowly and followed Caleb back toward the house, silently impressed by how quickly his friend could move even without Using. When they got there the police were waiting and Caleb handed Reid off to the ambulance. He told Pogue to go with and at first Pogue declined but Caleb said he didn’t want to send Reid alone and someone needed to stay and talk to the police.

Most of the police report would reflect what really happened that night with the exception of the death of the sniper, which was officially a fortunately misfiring of his rifle. It seemed Caleb fudged their no Using rules one last time.


End file.
